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CHRISTIAN   GREECE 


AND 


LIVING  GREEK 


BY 


Dr.  ACHILLES   ROSE 


* '  Alaxpov  koTL  diyg-v  ^'EA/ldfJof  7rda//f  adcKov/iiv^g. " 


NEW  YORK 

PERI    HELLADOS    PUBLICATION    OFFICE 

126  East  Twenty -ninth  Street 

1898 


Copyright,  1898, 

BY 

Achilles  Rose,  M.D. 


\/Mi\ 


• . •• «  • 


^:i^'i^'\R(jjw(v4u^ 


To 
Mr.    BERNARD   G.    AMEND 

MY    HIGHLY    ESTEEMED    FRIEND 

THIS   BOOK   IS   RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATED 


^50401 


C. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOE 

CHAPTER  I. 
An  Historical  Sketch  of  Greek.     ...  i 


CHAPTER  n. 
The  Proper  Pronunciation  of  Greek,    .        .  40 

CHAPTER  m. 
The  Byzantines,  ......  ^^ 

y  CHAPTER  IV. 

"^HE  Greeks  Under  Turkish  Bondage,    .         .         131 

N        y^  CHAPTER  V. 

Thj/Greek   War  of    Independence  and   the 

European  Powers, 168 


The     I^:tNGDOM      OF 

^^Y  1897,  . 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Greece    Before   the  War 

195 

CHAPTER  VII. 


Greek   as   the    International  Language  of 

Physicians  and  Scholars  in  General,      .        226 

Epilogue, 269 


A  POLITICAL  RETROSPECT  ON 
GREECE. 


Those  who  are  now  blaming  defeated  Greece 
for  having  gone  to  war  against  Turkey  unpre- 
pared and  without  allies,  "  with  surprising  blind- 
ness and  thoughtlessness"  as  the  prime  minister 
of  one  of  the  great  powers  put  it,  ought  to  take 
into  consideration  the  peculiar  and  exceptional 
circumstances  under  which  the  present  Greek 
kingdom  has  been  laboring  since  its  very  crea- 
tion in  1830.  In  the  revolution  of  1821,  or 
rather  the  war  of  independence  as  the  Greeks 
call  it,  not  only  Greece  proper,  but  most  of  the 
islands  of  the  ^gean  Sea,  Crete  included,  took 
up  arms  against  Turkey.  The  revolution  lasted 
nearly  seven  years,  and  ended  with  the  Battle  of 
Navarino  in  October,  1827,  when  thirty  men-of- 
war  of  England,  France,  and  Russia  destroyed 
the  Turkish  and  Egyptian  fleets,  composed  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  vessels,  at  that  port. 
This  great  act,  which  sealed  the  independence  of 


VI         A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON   GREECE. 

Greece,  and  yet  was  called  "  an  untoward  event" 
by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  then  Prime  Minister 
of  England,  was  due  to  the  enthusiasm  roused 
throughout  the  civilized  world  by  the  heroism  of 
the  Greeks,  when  the  names  of  Marco  Bozzaris, 
Canaris,  Miaulis,  Ypsilanti,  Karai'skakis,  Coloco- 
tronis,  and  others,  were  in  everybody's  mouth. 
But  when  the  fixing  of  the  frontiers  of  the  new 
kingdom  was  being  discussed,  the  jealousy  of 
the  great  powers,  with  the  exception  of  France, 
asserted  itself  as  usual,  and  through  the  hostility 
of  Prince  Metternich,  then  Prime  Minister  of 
Austria,  and  the  selfish  policy  of  England  under 
the  Wellington  ministry,  Crete  and  most  of  the 
islands  were  ceded  back  to  Turkey,  and  the  new 
kingdom,  scarcely  containing  eight  hundred 
thousand  souls,  was  made  so  small  that  Prince 
Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg,  afterwards  king  of  the 
Belgians,  refused  the  Greek  throne  which  was 
offered  to  him  by  the  powers. 

Greece  thus  began  her  political  existence  with 
a  restricted  territory,  devastated  by  the  long  war, 
and  with  very  scant  resources.  But  gradually 
the  country  commenced  to  thrive,  notwithstand- 
ing so  many  disadvantages,  most  of  which  were 
an  inheritance  from  its  late  masters ;  agriculture 
made  great  strides,  a  pretty  large  commerce  was 


A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE.       Vll 

established  with  foreign  countries,  and  a  com- 
mercial marine,  comprising  over  four  thousand 
vessels  (in  1850),  almost  monopolized  the  carry- 
ing trade  of  the  Mediterranean,  of  the  Black 
Sea,  of  the  Sea  of  Azoff ,  and  of  the  lower  Dan- 
ube. This  development  of  the  Greek  marine, 
which  threatened  to  take  large  proportions,  ex- 
cited the  jealousy  of  England,  and  that  power, 
under  the  Palmerston  ministry  in  1850,  seizing  a 
flimsy  pretext  of  the  stoning  of  the  house  of  a 
Portuguese  Jew,  named  Pacifico,  by  the  street 
boys  in  Athens  on  Easter  day,  sent  a  powerful 
fleet  under  Admiral  Parker  to  seek  redress. 
They  asked  for  a  large  indemnity  and  an  apology 
from  the  Greek  Government,  claiming  Pacifico 
as  a  British  subject.  On  the  refusal  of  the 
Greek  Government  to  comply,  the  British  ad- 
miral seized  hundreds  of  Greek  vessels  and  towed 
them  to  the  Bay  of  Salamis.  Most  of  them  were 
loaded  with  perishable  cargoes,  and  thus  brought 
ruin  to  their  owners.  Greece  had  finally  to  yield. 
By  this  time  many  enterprising  Greeks  had 
established  themselves  in  the  large  commercial 
cities  of  Western  Europe,  as  well  as  in  Southern 
Russia,  the  lower  Danube,  Roumani^,  and  Con- 
stantinople, and,  having  amassed  great  wealth, 
sent  large  sums  to  Greece  from  patriotic  motives. 


Vlll     A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON   GREECE. 

It  is  with  these  moneys  chiefly  that  the  National 
University  of  Athens,  the  Polytechnic  School,  the 
Observatory,  the  Sina  Academy,  the  Arsakeion, 
orphan  asylums,  theological  seminaries,-  national 
museum,  and  other  public  institutions  were  built. 
And  while  such  progress  was  being  made  within 
the  kingdom,  Crete  and  the  other  islands  were 
groaning  under  Turkish  rule,  Macedonia  was 
overrun  by  Bulgarian  emissaries  and  Roumanian 
agents  to  propagate  Slav  ideas,  while  in  the 
other  provinces  of  European  Turkey  and  the 
eastern  coast  of  Asia  Minor  thousands  of  Greeks 
were  looking  to  Athens  for  protection  from 
Turkish  excesses. 

Greece  could  not,  cannot  remain  indifferent  to 
these  constant  appeals  of  her  children  living  with- 
out the  kingdom.  Many  of  these  Greeks  living 
abroad  have  their  own  kinsmen  in  Athens,  men 
of  importance,  learning,  and  position.  Their  in- 
fluence is  felt  by  each  successive  government, 
which  is  thus  obliged  to  protect  those  who  are 
living  in  the  Turkish  dominions,  deprived  of  the 
blessings  of  liberty ;  and  this  task  imposes  heavy 
burdens  on  the  little  kindgom  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  its  limited  resources,  and  it  is  chiefly  to 
one  of  these  circumstances  that  the  recent  dis- 
asters of  Greece  are  due. 


A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE.         IX 

Crete,  with  a  Christian  population  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  souls  (the  other  fifty 
thousand  are  Mussulmans),  rose  in  insurrection 
more  than  half  a  dozen  times,  since  she  was 
given  back  to  Turkey  in  1830,  and  every  time 
that  the  movement  was  suppressed  by  Turkey, 
assisted  openly  or  secretly  by  the  European 
powers,  the  Sultan  promised  reforms  and  gave 
promises  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
the  wretched  inhabitants,  which  were  never  ful- 
filled. These  periodical  insurrections  placed  a 
very  heavy  burden  on  Greece,  particularly  those 
of  1866,  1876,  and  1896,  when  the  Greek  Gov- 
ernment had  to  feed  more  than  sixty  thousand 
Cretan  refugees,  mostly  women  and  children, 
taxing  its  resources  to  the  utmost  extent. 

The  massacres  of  Christians  at  Canea  in  the 
fall  of  1896  roused,  very  naturally,  a  cry  of  in- 
dignation all  over  Greece,  and  the  people  at 
large  clamored  for  interference,  accusing  both 
king  and  government  of  cowardice  and  neglect 
of  a  sacred  duty.  The  opposition  joined  forces 
with  the  popular  movement,  and  the  pressure  to 
act  became  thus  irresistible.  A  Greek  squadron 
and  a  small  contingent  of  the  Greek  army  were 
despatched  to  Crete  to  protect  the  Christians. 
The  sequel  is  well  known.     The  great  powers 


X  A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE. 

sent  their  fleets  and  an  army  of  occupation  to 
Crete,  drove  back  the  Greek  vessels,  bombarded 
the  Christian  positions,  and  established  a  strict 
blockade  in  order  to  reduce  them  to  obedience 
by  starvation.  Equity,  justice,  and  international 
law  were  ignored,  or,  to  speak  more  plainly, 
were  superseded  by  brute  force,  by  might  against 
right.  The  Christians  did  not  lay  down  their 
arms,  but  Turkey,  encouraged  by  at  least  one 
of  the  great  powers,  massed  a  large  army  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  on  the  Greek 
frontier,  ostensibly  under  the  command  of 
Edhem  Pacha,  but  practically  conducted  by  Ger- 
man officers,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  Krupp 
guns.  Against  this  formidable  force  the  Greeks 
under  the  Crown  Prince  could  only  oppose  thirty- 
five  thousand  men,  half  of  whom  were  raw  re- 
cruits, full  of  enthusiasm  it  is  true,  but  poorly 
drilled  and  half  disciplined. 

The  result  could  be  easily  foreseen.  The 
Greek  army  was  defeated  and  forced  to  evacuate 
Thessaly,  the  German  Emperor  sent  congratula- 
tory telegrams  to  the  Sultan,  a  heavy  war  in- 
demnity and  a  curtailment  of  her  frontiers  were 
imposed  on  Greece,  and  a  foreign  control  was 
established  over  her  finances. 

The  diplomats  of  the  great  powers  are  now 


A   POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE.         XI 

rubbing  their  hands  with  satisfaction  at  having 
localized  the  war,  prevented  the  reopening  of 
the  Eastern  question,  and  pacified  Crete.  But 
have  they  really  done  so  ?  Perfect  chaos  reigns 
now  in  Crete  on  account  of  the  jealousy  and  the 
mistrust  of  the  powers  of  each  other.  Half  a 
dozen  governors  have  been  proposed  and  re- 
jected. England  wants  a  Battenberg,  Russia  a 
Montenegrin,  Italy  an  Italian,  Germany  has  her 
own  candidate,  and  so  forth.  In  the  mean  while 
the  European  fleets  are  at  anchor  at  Canea  and 
Heraclion,  and  their  contingents  occupy  the  four 
fortresses  of  the  island,  ostensibly  to  protect  the 
Mussulmans  from  the  attacks  of  the  Christians. 
The  latter  have  placed  themselves  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  powers,  who  have  done  nothing 
to  establish  a  local  government,  and  it  is  very 
likely  that  this  chaotic  state  of  things  will  last 
for  some  time  to  come.  A  more  ignominious 
failure  than  that  of  the  powers  trying  to  govern 
Crete  can  hardly  be  imagined. 

History  will  register  with  shame  these  doings 
of  the  great  powers  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Their  conduct  toward  Greece  has  been 
cruel  and  inconsistent ;  but  if  the  truth  must  be 
said,  some  of  the  powers  have  always  tried  to 
keep  Greece  backward  for  selfish  purposes  and 


Xll       A    POLITICAL   RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE. 

for  the  accomplishment  of  their  own  designs. 
They  are  acting  thus  not  from  love  for  Turkey, 
but  from  hostility  toward  Greece.  The  Austrian 
men-of-war  were  about  to  bombard  Mersina  the 
other  day,  merely  because  some  Turkish  zaptiehs 
maltreated  an  Austrian  subject.  But  when  a 
whole  Christian  population  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  souls  in  Crete  were  menaced  with 
massacre,  and  some  hundreds  of  them  were 
actually  butchered  by  the  Turks  at  Canea,  the 
powers  found  fault  with  Greece  for  sending  men- 
of-war  and  soldiers  for  their  protection.  They 
evidently  have  different  weights  and  measures 
for  the  small  and  large  states.  The  application 
of  this  pernicious  principle  means  assuredly  the 
annihilation  of  the  independence  of  the  small 
states  in  favor  of  the  large  ones. 

Nothing  is  heard  any  more  about  the  promised 
reforms  by  the  Sultan.  The  massacre  of  the 
Armenians  seems  forgotten.  Abdul  Hamid 
knows  that  the  so-called  concert  of  the  powers  is 
a  sham  and  that  they  mistrust  and  are  afraid  of 
each  other.  He  has  succeeded  in  rendering  the 
celebrated  concert  the  laughing-stock  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  Turkey  is  safe,  not  because  she  is 
guarded  by  the  Turkish  army,  but  because  she  is 
supported  by  European  bayonets.     It  is  really  a 


A   POLITICAL    RETROSPECT   ON    GREECE.      Xlll 

privileged  position,  which  nobody  understands 
better  than  the  Sultan  himself.  If  Greece  has 
sinned,  it  was  on  the  side  of  compassion  for  her 
oppressed  children  and  coreligionists.  She  is 
bleeding  from  every  pore  of  her  mutilated  body, 
but  there  is  a  Nemesis  which  sooner  or  later  will 
overtake  those  who  seem  to  rejoice  now  at  her 
defeat  and  humiliation.  There  is,  however, 
great  vitality  in  the  Greek  race.  Hellenism  has 
gone  through  many  severe  trials  in  past  ages  and 
finally  has  come  out  victorious.  It  may  be  hoped 
that  the  Greeks  of  to-day  will  profit  by  the 
severe  lessons  which  they  have  received,  and 
their  late  disaster  may  after  all  prove  a  blessing 
in  disguise,  if  they  go  bravely  to  work,  reform 
their  political  system,  pay  more  attention  to  in- 
terior improvements  than  to  foreign  politics,  ele- 
vate the  national  character,  and  fulfil  their  na- 
tional aspirations  by  the  arts  of  peace,  and 
attract  once  more  the  sympathies  of  those  to 
whom  the  word  "  Hellas"  means  always  civiliza- 
tion and  progress. 


CHRISTIAN  GREECE  AND  LIYING  GREEK. 


CHAPTER   I. 

AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.* 

When  I  offered  to  read  a  paper  this  evening, 
it  was  my  intention  to  speak  on  the  new  an- 
atomical nomenclature  offered  by  a  German 
anatomical  society.  I  not  only  had  in  view  to 
concur  with  those  who  have  already  expressed 
themselves  on  this  new  lexicology,  and  who 
have  said  that  the  committee  of  anatomists  who 
composed  the  work  mentioned  have  not  done 
what  they  claim.  I  wished  to  go  a  step  farther 
and  demonstrate  in  what  way  the  committee 
could  have  fulfilled  their  promise — could  have 
executed  their  intention. 

As  we  know,  the  authors  decided  to  give  all 
words  in  one  language — in  Latin — and  to  con- 
struct  them   correctly.     In   reality  most   words 

*Read  before  the  German  Medical  Society  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  February  3d,  1896. 


^2'  ''CttklSrXA'^' 'GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

are,  and  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  Latinized 
Greek,  or  they  are  hybrid  words;  in  some  of 
them,  of  more  than  two  syllables,  we  find  the 
syllables  alternately  from  the  one  and  the  other 
language;  and  finally,  as  has  been  shown  al- 
ready, many  words  are  grammatically  incorrect. 

Any  one  who  gives  a  glance  at  this  new 
nomenclature  cannot  fail  to  notice  barbarisms 
in  large  numbers.  In  this  copy  which  I  pass 
around  I  have  marked  some  on  the  first  pages. 

The  anatomists  have  undertaken  a  thing 
which  was  an  impossibility — namely,  to  develop 
further  {/ortbilden)  a  dead  language,  to  treat  a 
dead  language  as  a  living  one. 

Had  the  committee,  however,  taken  the  liv- 
ing Greek  for  a  basis,  had  they  made  use  of  a 
modern  Greek  work  on  anatomy,  had  they  con- 
sulted real  Greeks,  they  would  have  fulfilled  all 
their  promises,  executed  all  their  intentions, 
without  the  arduous  labor  of  seven  years  and 
the  expenditure  of  quite  a  sum  of  money,  as 
enumerated  by  them.  Indeed,  their  arduous 
work  would  have  been  unnecessary  if  the  lexi- 
cology of  our  Greek  colleagues  of  to-day — the 
best  imaginable — had  been  accepted. 

To  prove  the  superiority  of  this  really  homo- 
geneous, faultless  Greek  nomenclature,  I  wrote 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  3 

to  Athens  for  a  modern  Greek  book  on  anatomy, 
since  I  could  not  find  a  copy  in  New  York.  The 
book  arrived  too  late  to  enable  me  to  complete 
my  preparations,  and  therefore  I  selected  another 
subject.  Some  of  you  will  reproach  me  for  occu- 
pying your  time  with  a  theme  which  may  appear 
unusual  in  this  place,  but  if  it  were  not  for  this 
I  should  not  regret  the  change,  because,  before 
we  can  understand  the  significance  of  the  living 
Greek  language  as  the  one  to  be  selected  for  our 
anatomy  and  for  other  practical  purposes,  we 
must  come  to  an  understanding  of  the  language 
itself,  and  this  can  best  be  accomplished  if  we 
begin  with  the  study  of  certain  historical  facts. 

Some  years  ago  the  Greek  question  was  intro- 
duced into  the  medical  world  by  no  less  a  person 
than  Rudolf  Virchow,  in  his  inaugural  address 
as  rector  of  the  Berlin  University,  on  October 
15th,  1892.  While  Virchow  spoke  of  school 
Greek  only,  and  did  not  mention  living  Greek  at 
all,  the  credit  is  due  to  the  Medical  Record  of  hav- 
ing been  the  first  to  call  our  attention  to  living 
Greek.  The  impulse  which  was  given  by  the 
editor  of  that  journal  has  found  an  echo  in  the 
medical  press;  in  all  languages  in  all  civilized 
countries  has  the  subject  been  discussed;  even 
in  the   scientific  papers  of   German  philologists 


4        CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

has  the  question  been  considered.  The  Greek 
question  has  thus  become  a  legitimate  one  for 
us,  and,  judging  from  the  interest  with  which  it 
has  been  treated,  we  may  surely  predict  for  it  a 
brilliant  future. 

If  we  arrive  at  an  understanding  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  living  Greek  language,  if  we  famil- 
iarize ourselves  with  certain  facts  concerning 
this  idiom,  we  shall  notice  first  of  all  that  there 
exists  much  less  a  new  Greek  than  there  exists 
a  new  German.  We  shall  find  that  the  language 
which  is  spoken  and  written  in  Greece  this  very 
day  is  exactly  two  thousand  three  hundred  years 
old.  We  shall  find  that  the  prevailing  assertion 
that  we  do  not  know  how  the  Greek  was  pro- 
nounced during  the  classical  period  is  based 
upon  an  error.  We  shall  find  that  the  stones 
from  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  and  from  that 
time  through  all  the  centuries  until  the  present 
one,  speak  to  us  and  give  us  the  pronunciation 
of  each  and  every  century. 

We  shall  have  to  deal  with  many  errors  con- 
cerning the  Greek  language  and  the  Greeks 
themselves,  with  errors  which  are  as  extensive 
almost  as  the  whole  civilized  world  and  as  old ; 
some  as  old  as  the  dissociation  of  the .  Latin 
from  the  Greek  Church — that  is,  more  than  eight 


AN    HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF    GREEK.  5 

hundred  years;  others  as  old  as  the  notorious 
Dialogus  Erasmi  Roterdami  de  grceci  latinique  pro- 
nunciatione — namely,  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  years.  With  truth  and  simplicity  alone 
can  the  errors  concerning  Greek  be  crushed. 

To  do  justice  to  the  subject,  the  time  allowed 
for  a  simple  lecture  would  be  too  short.  It  will 
be  enough  if  I  confine  myself  this  evening  to 
giving  a  sketch  of  the  historical  development  of 
the  modern  Greek  language. 

My  remarks  are  based  not  only  on  the  re- 
searches of  prominent  native  Greek  philologists — 
I  wish  to  mention  especially  Hatzidakis*  who, 
like  many  learned  Greeks,  has  made  his  studies 
of  old  Greek  philology  in  German  universities, 
and  who  with  pride  calls  himself  a  scholar  of 
Delbriick;  and  the  great  scholar,  Papadimitra- 
kopulos,  whose  crushing  arguments,  as  my  es- 
teemed friend  Professor  Leotsakos  expresses 
himself,  are  not  less  formidable  in  strength  and 
length  than  his  name — but  also  the  writings  of 
different  authors  of  different  countries  found  in 
the  periodical  'ElXd^,  published  by  the  Philhellenic 
Society  of  Amsterdam,  and  other  periodicals  and 
books. 

*  In  this  paper  I  avail  myself  mostly  of  the  book  of  G.  N. 
Hatzidakis,  "Einleitung  in  die  neugriechische  Grammatik," 
Leipzig,  1892. 


6        CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

It  is  impossible  reasonably  to  dispute  the  fact 
that  the  Greek  language  of  to-day  is  an  uninter- 
rupted continuation  of  ancient  Greek.  The  liv- 
ing Greek  of  to-day  shows  much  less  deviation 
from  the  Greek  of  two  thousand  and  more  years 
ago  than  any  other  European  language  shows  in 
the  course  of  centuries. 

In  the  great  days  of  Greece,  when  its  literary 
works  received  the  applause  and  admiration  of 
enlightened  scholars,  authors  took  great  pains 
to  write  well,  fearing  that  they  might  be  de- 
spised or  forgotten.  This  emulation  produced 
great  works.  The  language  was  at  its  greatest 
perfection.  Every  writer  found  the  beautiful 
form  for  his  thoughts  and  for  the  expression  of 
his  ideas.  Inevitable  vicissitudes,  in  the  first 
instance  of  civil  dissensions,  have  gradually  led 
to  decadence.  Literature  received  less  and  less 
serious  attention.  Poetry  was  first  to  decline. 
Orators  and  historians  were  replaced  by  speakers 
and  chroniclers.  Poly  bins,  the  historian  (204- 
122  B.C.),  complained  of  the  difficulty  he  had  of 
putting  a  nice  thought  into  equally  nice  form, 
and  he  asks  his  readers  not  to  pay  so  much  at- 
tention to  the  form  as  to  the  contents  of  his  writ- 
ings. Such  a  request  could  never  have  been 
made    by   Thucydides    or    Demosthenes.      The 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  7 

land  of  heroes,  of  liberty,  came  under  bondage, 
and  the  powerful  and  creative  spirit  of  the  old 
Greeks  weakened. 

The  history  of  the  Greek  language  is  the 
mirror  of  the  history  of  the  Greek  nation. 
Naturally  enough,  a  depressed  and  suppressed 
nation  cannot  create  national  works.  Patriot- 
ism, national  pride,  free  political  life,  and  re- 
ligion are  necessary  to  inspire  the  creation  of 
great  monuments  of  literature.  While  the  later 
Greeks,  however,  could  no  longer  write  classi- 
cally, they  retained  a  keen  sense  for  the  beauties 
of  the  classical  language.  Instead  of  creating 
new  works  themselves,  they  became  imitators  of 
the  old  writers,  scrupulous  imitators  of  their 
words  and  forms. 

All  nations  have  more  or  less  a  double  lan- 
guage; nowhere  do  the  illiterate  use  the  same 
forms  and  words  as  the  educated ;  even  the  latter 
use  only  exceptionally  artistic  and  choice  lan- 
guage. A  well-marked  diglossy  has  existed 
among  the  Greeks  at  all  times. 

When,  after  Alexander  the  Great,  Greek  had 
become  the  world  and  court  language,  a  lan- 
guage for  prose,  the  language  for  the  educated 
class  was  created,  the  so-called  xocv-^,  the  general, 
and   the    foundations  of  this  general  language 


8         CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

were  the  Attic  writers;   admixed  were  provin- 
cialisms. 

The  sources  for  the  study  of  this  language, 
the  xoivrj,  are  the  writers  of  the  Alexandrian 
period,  above  all  the  papyri  and  the  numerous 
inscriptions  which  are  found  in  all  parts  of 
Greece.  This  fine  literary  language,  the  y.oiv^, 
is  yet  the  language  of  to-day;  it  is  a  finished 
language  which  has  taken  up  to  its  completion 
words  from  the  dialects,  but  which  is  indepen- 
dent of  dialects.  It  is  the  centre  around  which 
the  dialects  are  arranged. 

Through  two  thousand  years  the  Greek  lan- 
guage has  proved  to  be  of  a  most  remarkable 
terseness  compared  with  the  Romanic  and  the 
German  languages;  it  is  surprising  how  little 
Greek  has  changed  in  words  as  well  as  in  forms. 
Most  grammatical  forms  of  the  pure  Attic  are  in 
use  this  very  day.  The  difference  between  the 
new  and  the  old  consists  principally  in  the  sim- 
plification of  old  grammar;  the  new  elements, 
forms,  and  construction  in  the  new  Greek  are 
only  exceptionally  formed.  This  simplification, 
consisting  in  the  generalizing  of  some  and  drop- 
ping of  other  elements,  did  not  take  place  re- 
cently, but  during  the  time  of  the  establishment 
of  the  xotvyj;  it  is  therefore  not  a  characteristic  of 


AN   HISTORICAL  SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  9 

the  new  Greek,  but  it  appears  more  clearly  and 
distinctly  in  it. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  firmness  and  the  te- 
nacity of  the  character  of  the  Greeks,  who,  more 
than  any  other  subdued  nation,  remained  true  to 
their  customs  and  habits,  were  the  cause  of  their 
clinging  to  their  language  more  than  any  other 
nation.  But  there  exist  other  peoples  with  as 
much  tenacity  of  character  as  the  Greeks  who 
also  have  preserved  their  customs  and  habits, 
who,  however,  did  not  preserve  their  language 
unchanged  through  all  the  centuries  as  did 
the  Greeks.  Greek  of  to-day  is  essentially  old 
Attic  Greek.  By  the  Greeks  the  contempora- 
neous language  of  the  different  periods  of  Greece 
was  never  used  instead  of  or  confounded  with 
the  xncvTj^  any  more  than  by  the  Romans  during 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  would  be  used  the  Italian  of  their  time, 
which  was  considered  as  being  corrupt,  instead 
of  the  classical  Latin.  At  no  time  was  there  a 
contemporaneous  general  demotic  language  de- 
viating much  from  the  xotvrj ;  if  such  a  language, 
deviating  as  much  as,  for  instance,  French  from 
Latin,  ever  had  existed,  there  would  be  quite  a 
different  Greek  literary  language  at  present. 

One   of   the  most  plausible  reasons  why  the 


10      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

Greek  of  to-day  is  essentially  the  Greek  of  the 
old  glorious  time,  is  the  magnificence  of  the 
beauty  and  contents  of  the  classical  monuments 
of  literature.  As  a  large  tree  which  excludes  all 
sun  rays  underneath  its  mighty  foliage  will  not 
permit  other  plants  to  be  lighted  and  warmed 
and  to  thrive  within  its  reach,  so  have  the  over- 
whelming magnitude  and  the  sublimity  of  the 
classical  form  of  the  old  literature  prevented  a 
post-classical  literature  from  developing.  Since 
the  Greeks  for  centuries  had,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  richest  and  most  beautiful  works  of  the  class- 
ical period,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  most 
insignificant  products  of  a  later  time,  they  natur- 
ally enough  had  recourse  again  and  again  to  the 
old  treasures.  During  the  reign  of  barbarism  in 
Europe — that  is,  from  the  fifth  to  the  twelfth 
century — the  Greeks  were  the  exclusive,  jealous 
conservators  of  science,  arts,  industry;  they  did 
not  allow,  even  to  themselves,  that  something  of 
the  sacred  deposit  be  changed,  as  if  during  this 
sad  gap  in  the  history  of  Europe  they  had  had 
the  thought  of  transmitting  all  intact  to  more 
prosperous  times.  During  the  Latin  and  the 
Byzantine  reign  the  Greek  writers,  neither  con- 
trolled nor  encouraged  by  public  opinion-,  neg- 
lected  themselves,   and   their    style   necessarily 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  II 

deteriorated.  Books  were  not  read,  and  every 
one  wrote  only  for  his  own  satisfaction.  Be- 
cause the  beauties  of  the  classicity  of  old  could 
not  be  found  in  contemporaneous  work  the  error 
was  made  of  blaming  the  language  for  it. 

It  is  easily  understood  that  the  writers  of 
many  centuries,  even  the  less  educated,  who  had 
nothing  of  the  genius  of  their  ancestors,  in  their 
admiration  of  the  classical  language  retained 
most  anxiously  all  the  old  orthography,  the 
words,  the  modes  of  expression,  the  construc- 
tions, because  all  considered  the  old  language 
as  one  of  extreme  beauty.  They  looked  upon 
new  elements  which  might  be  introduced  into  it 
as  vulgar  corruptions.  Every  writer  had  the  in- 
tention to  use  the  aristocratic,  pure  ideal  lan- 
guage instead  of  the  vulgar  and  irregular. 
Thus  can  be  explained  the  fact  that  the  schools, 
the  church,  the  administration,  the  military,  the 
legislature,  the  courts,  the  correspondents,  and 
the  literati  of  all  kinds,  during  all  the  centuries 
while  Greece  was  in  bondage,  used  the  archaic 
language.  Books  written  in  dialects,  such,  for 
instance,  as  A  B  C  books  or  readers,  grammars 
of  contemporaneous  Greek,  were  altogether  un- 
known things  at  those  times.  In  aristocratic 
society  tuhv-ti  only  was  spoken.     Even  the  Roman 


4 


12       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

reign,  which  in  the  West  had  forced  many  na- 
tions to  adopt  the  Latin,  had  not  been  able  to 
interfere  with  the  continuation  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  Greek,  for  Grcecia  capta  feruin  victor  em 
cepit,     Rome  itself  was  made  a  grceca  urbs. 

The  Roman  Empire  ceased  to  be.  Other  na- 
tions did  not  emigrate  into  Greece,  at  least  not 
in  large  numbers.  If  there  had  been  an  inva- 
sion numerous  enough,  it  would  have  left  traces 
in  the  people's  language;  that  is,  in  the  dialects. 
The  language  of  the  continental  part  of  Greece, 
however,  remained  as  free  from  such  foreign 
elements  as  did  the  language  of  the  islands,  of 
which  it  is  known  positively  that  they  were 
not  invaded  by  foreigners,  especially  southern 
Laconia  and  Maina,  for  instance.  Besides,  it 
is  to  be  taken  into  consideration  that  the  for- 
eigners who  did  come  before  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury did  not  come  as  conquerors,  they  were 
simply  nomads,  people  without  culture  and  rela- 
tively not  numerous ;  they  came  among  a  nation 
of  high  culture.  It  stands  to  reason  that  they 
would  adopt  the  Greek  culture,  religion,  and 
language  rather  than  that  the  Greeks  would 
adopt  anything  of  the  kind  from  them. 

An  interruption  of  Greek  culture  and  of.  the 
use  of  the  pure,  fine  literary  language  has  never 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   GEEEK.  1 3 

happened  in  Greece,  not  even  after  the  Latin 
conquest  in  1204  and  the  Turkish  in  1453.  The 
Attic,  the  classical  language,  became,  so  to  say, 
transfigured ;  its  forms,  words,  constructions,  ex- 
pressions, orthography,  were  considered  as  some- 
thing sacred,  as  something  which  alone  had  a 
right  to  existence. 

Everybody  will  understand  that  all  the  above- 
named  conditions  were  unfavorable  to  the  crea- 
tion of  a  new  literary  language  and  a  new  na- 
tional literature.  There  remained  on  the  one 
hand  the  antiquated  literary  language,  and  on 
the  other  hand  the  freely  developed  popular  lan- 
guage— the  dialects.  Neither  one  could  supply 
all  demands.  After  the  eleventh  century  the 
necessity  was  felt  for  the  alteration  of  the 
former,  the  literary  language,  as  it  appeared 
antiquated.  The  adoption  of  a  more  modern 
phase,  which  would  be  more  easily  understood, 
was  suggested.  But  then  came  the  Prankish  ad- 
venturers who  conquered  Constantinople,  divided 
Greece  among  themselves,  and  brought  the  most 
terrific  misery  on  the  whole  Greek  world.  While 
the  political  condition  thus  grew  worse  every 
day,  there  was  a  want  of  national  spirit,  which 
is  the  first  essential  for  a  national  literature.  It 
remained  as  it  was ;  the  treasures  of  the  classical 


14      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

literature  and  the  church  were  the  only  links 
which  held  all  Greeks  together. 

Nothing  has  been  more  potent  in  the  preser- 
vation of  the  old  Greek  than  the  influence  of  the 
church.  During  the  dark  night  which  covered 
the  land  while  the  Turks  governed  it,  there 
remained,  overlooked  by  the  conquerors,  two 
points  still  faintly  illuminated  by  the  departing 
sun  rays  of  liberty :  the  church  with  some  privi- 
leges granted  for  political  reasons,  and  the  inac- 
cessible mountainous  regions  of  old  Hellas, 
where  the  bravest  found  refuge  from  bondage. 

More  than  a  hundred  times  a  year,  and  for 
hours  at  a  time,  all  Greeks  had  to  hear  in  their 
churches  the  fine  old  Greek,  and  principally  on 
this  account  a  knowledge  of  the  old  Greek  was 
preserved  through  all  the  centuries,  even  among 
the  humblest  people.  People,  although  unable 
either  to  read  or  to  write,  understood  the  mass 
very  well,  the  sermon — in  short,  everything 
they  heard  in  church.  They  could  be  seen  in 
olden  times  gathered  together  and  listening  at- 
tentively to  one  among  them  possessed  of  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  education  acquired  in  a  convent 
or  elsewhere,  explaining  the  difficult  words  or 
expressions. 

It  has  been  said,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  1 5 

very  existence  of  the  Orthodox  Church  has  been 
the  reason  that  living  Greek  was  considered 
as  a  new  language.  The  Byzantines,  and  the 
people  depending  on  them,  were  completely  sep- 
arated from  the  western  European  nations  in  con- 
sequence of  religious  and  political  events.  The 
fact  is  that  the  Byzantines,  their  heirs,  and  their 
descendants,  even  to  this  very  day,  do  not  con- 
sider themselves  as  belonging  to  Europe.  We 
notice  this  in  every  newspaper  and  in  daily  con- 
versation. When  Greeks  speak  of  Germans, 
French,  and  English,  they  name  them,  as  in  con- 
trast to  themselves,  Europeans.  The  Orthodox 
Church  forms  a  world  of  its  own ;  it  is  a  complex 
of  nations  and  states,  some  of  them  half  civilized, 
living  between  civilized  Europe  and  barbaric 
Asia.  This  multiform  composition  of  nations, 
which  in  the  past  has  been  the  bulwark  against 
Asiatic  barbarism,  seems  to  be  destined  for  the 
future  to  be  the  medium  of  bringing  civilization 
from  Europe  into  Asia.  Up  to  date  it  has  been 
little  known,  but  much  misrepresented.  This 
seclusion  has  been  the  impediment  to  the  scien- 
tific study  of  the  middle  and  new  Greek. 

In  consequence  of  the  separation  of  the  Occi- 
dental from  the  Oriental  church — that  is,  the 
Orthodox  from  the  Roman  Catholic — the  history 


1 6      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

of  the  Greeks  during  the  Byzantine  era  has 
been  neglected  by  the  schools  in  Western 
Europe.  The  hostility  toward  the  Orthodox 
Church  was  extended  to  the  Greeks  and  the  liv- 
ing Greek  language.  Thus  we  see  that  the 
church  on  the  one  hand  helped  to  preserve  the 
old  Greek  language,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  indirectly  the  cause  that  living  Greek  was 
condemned,  despised,  calumniated.  The  world 
is  full  of  wrong  and  misery  caused  by  religious 
dissension. 

It  is  about  time  that  our  schools  turned  their 
attention  to  the  history  of  Byzantine  Greece. 
While  German,  French,  English,  Italian,  and 
Spanish  history  are  treated  with  due  considera- 
tion, Byzantine  history  is  restricted  to  a  few  para- 
graphs only,  and  these  so  brief  that  no  satisfac- 
tory understanding  is  possible. 

The  close  relation  of  the  middle  Greek  lan- 
guage with  the  old  Greek  is  evident.  There  is 
hardly  any  branch  of  classical  philology  which 
is  not  enlightened  by  the  study  of  the  Byzan- 
tines. Even  the  vulgar  Greek,  the  dialects, 
and  the  dialects  severally,  as  we  shall  see  later 
on,  have  proved  to  be  essential  and  important 
parts  of  the  history  of  the  Greek  language. 
This  has  been  fully  demonstrated  by  a  number 


AN  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  GREEK.     1 7 

of  Greek  philologists,  by  Maurophrydes,  Deffner, 
S.  Meyer,  Foy,  Dossios,  Hatzidakis,  Psichari, 
Oekonomides,  Thumb,  and  others. 

No  contemporaneous  language  had  any  litera- 
ture except  in  the  songs  of  the  Klephts.  In  the 
ravines  of  the  Pindus,  of  the  Olympus,  of  the 
Aroanias,  and  of  the  Peloponnesus  the  fearless 
men  who  raised  the  name  Klepht  to  a  pinnacle 
of  honor,  with  a  certain  pride  developed  by  their 
bravery,  sang  their  Klepht  songs  while  constant- 
ly under  arms,  and  fighting  incessantly  to  guard 
their  independence.  These  songs  are  simple 
and  artless,  but  often  sublime,  as  the  summits  of 
the  mountains  that  they  came  from,  and  of  the 
same  natural  beauty  as  the  wild  flowers  which 
likewise  rooted  there. 

The  Klephts  were  a  robust  people,  but  all 
their  poetry  is  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  chas- 
tity, though  sad  and  melancholy  as  was  their 
history.  The  poets  are  anonymous,  like  the 
heroes  of  those  times.  Here  are  some  examples 
of  Klepht  songs : 

"  I  will  join  the  Klephts  to  become  the  pride 
of  the  desert  and  the  dweller  of  the  forest.  I 
will  live  in  the  mountains  and  on  their  sum- 
mits, live  where  the  wild  beasts  have  their 
lair.     I  may  have  the  rocks  for  my  couch  and 


1 8       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  snow  for  my  cover,  but  I  will  not  serve  the 
Turks." 

As  in  the  poems  of  Homer  the  horses  of 
Achilles  and  the  rivers  of  Troy  assume  the  hu- 
man voice;  as  in  the  old  mythology  every  tree, 
every  grotto,  every  spring  is  animated  by  a 
nymph  dwelling  within,  so  in  these  songs  are 
the  woods,  the  eagles  perching  on  the  summits 
of  the  rocks,  the  mountains  themselves,  the 
sun  and  the  moon,  the  rivers  and  the  soil  and 
the  clouds  of  heaven  made  to  speak,  narrating 
the  adventures  of  the  Klephts,  lamenting  their 
death,  consoling  their  mothers  and  all  their 
grief-stricken  family.  Touching  all  chords,  the 
most  tender,  the  most  sublime,  they  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  events  of  family  life  and  of  the  life 
in  the  fields ;  exactly  like  the  ancient  rhapsodies 
they  draw  a  picture  of  the  Greek  people  and 
their  political  history  during  a  period  which  is 
not  otherwise  recorded. 

In  one  of  the  songs  a  dying  Klepht  dictates 
his  last  will :  "  Dig  a  grave  for  me,  large  and 
deep  that  I  may  stand  upright  with  my  gun 
ready  to  fight.  Open  also  a  window  to  the  right 
that  the  swallows  may  come  to  announce  the 
springtime,  and  that  the  nightingale  may  come 
to  sing  of  May  blossom." 


AN   HISTORICAL  SKETCH   OF   GREEK.  1 9 

A  mother  whose  son  has  been  killed  expresses 
her  grief:  "The  harts  and  the  deers  run  on  the 
mountains,  only  one  sad  roe  does  not  follow 
them ;  she  seeks  the  shade  and  rests  on  her  left 
side ;  when  she  finds  clear  water  she  disturbs  it 
before  drinking.  The  sun  meets  her,  rests  on 
her  way  and  asks:  What  aileth  thee,  my  poor 
roe?  Why  dost  thou  seek  the  shade  and  rest 
on  thy  left  side?  Sun,  thou  askest  me,  and 
I  will  answer  thee.  For  twelve  years  I  was 
childless;  finally  I  had  one  child.  I  nour- 
ished and  I  raised  it.  When  it  was  exactly 
two  years  old  a  hunter  killed  it.  Maledic- 
tion upon  thee,  hunter,  thou  hast  killed  my 
husband  and  thou  hast  robbed  me  of  my 
child." 

In  many  of  these  songs  we  observe  all  the 
vivacity  of  the  inexhaustible  imagination  of  the 
ancients,  and  we  are  carried  away  into  the  re- 
mote times  when  poetical  creations  peopled  the 
Olympus  and  when  the  poets  made  them  enter 
into  human  dramas. 

It  was  in  Athens  last  summer;  the  moon 
shone,  the  stars  were  more  brilliant  than  we  see 
them  in  our  climate,  all  surroundings  were  as 
beautiful  as  we  can  find  them  only  in  the  most 
favored  spots  of  our  planet,  when  I  heard  for  the 


20      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

first  time  a  Klepht  song,  sung  by  some  sons  of 
the  mountains  who  were  passing  by.  I  was 
spellbound,  and  it  seemed  to  me'  as  if  these 
voices  which  I  heard  and  the  sympathetic  ex- 
pression of  the  words,  when  compared  with  the 
songs  heard  from  artists  at  an  opera,  were  as 
much  more  genuine  as  the  surrounding  nature 
was  superior  to  the  painted  scenery  of  the  stage. 
The  song  I  listened  to  was  the  following:  "  Why 
are  the  mountains  dark  and  threatening?  Is  it 
because  the  wind  shakes  them,  because  the  rain 
strikes  them?  It  is  not  the  wind  that  shakes 
them,  it  is  not  the  rain  that  pours  down ;  it  is 
Charon  (death)  passing  with  the  dead.  He 
chases  the  young  before  him,  the  old  are  forced 
to  follow  him,  and  the  children  of  tender  age  he 
has  grouped  on  his  saddle.  (There  being  no 
rivers  in  the  mountains,  the  Klepht  poets  have 
represented  Charon  as  a  horseman.)  The  aged 
beg  of  him,  the  young  fall  on  their  knees  before 
him:  Stay,  O  death,  near  a  village,  stay  near  a 
fresh  spring,  that  the  old  may  quench  their 
thirst,  that  the  young  may  throw  the  stone 
(disk),  and  that  the  children  may  gather  flowers. 
I  shall  not  rest  at  a  village  nor  stay  at  a  fresh 
spring.  The  mothers  would  come  to  fetch  water 
and   would    meet    their    children,   the    spouses 


AN   HISTORICAL    SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  2  1 

would  find  themselves  and  I  could  not  separate 
them  again." 

Many  a  beautiful  night  I  spent  at  the  Phaleron 
with  a  dear  Greek  friend,  a  grave  man  of 
science.  He  recited  for  me  many  of  the  Klepht 
songs ;  one  of  those  I  liked  the  best  was  a  bal- 
lad, and  when  I  heard  it  I  said  at  once,  Burger 
must  have  borrowed  from  it  for  his  best  poem, 
"  Leonore."     It  was  as  follows: 

"  O  mother  with  thy  nine  sons  and  thy  only 
daughter,  thy  beloved  daughter  is  tenderly 
caressed.  She  was  twelve  years  old  and  the  sun 
had  not  seen  her  yet.  Thou  bathest  her,  and 
thou  braidest  her  hair  in  the  shade  of  the  night, 
and  thou  fastenest  the  hair  with  ribbons  under 
the  rays  of  the  evening  star  or  the  morning  star. 
She  is  asked  to  marry  in  a  foreign  land,  quite 
far  away,  in  Babylonia.  Her  eight  brothers  re- 
fuse their  consent,  but  Constantine  consents: 
Give  her,  O  my  mother,  send  Arete  into  the 
foreign  land,  that  I  may  find  consolation  when- 
ever I  shall  travel  far  away,  and  there  may  be  a 
roof  under  which  I  can  repose.  Thou  art  pru- 
dent, Constantine,  but  what  thou  sayest  is  not 
wise.  And  when,  O  my  son,  sickness  or  death 
should  happen  to  us,  who  will  bring  her  to  me? 
He  gave  God  for  bond  and  called  the  saints  as 


22       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

witnesses  that  if  death  or  sickness  should  hap- 
pen, if  joy  or  sorrow  should  befall  them,  he 
would  go  to  fetch  her.  Then  came  a  year  of 
misfortune,  a  month  of  distress.  The  pest 
raged  and  took  away  the  nine  sons.  The 
mother  alone  was  left,  a  reed  in  the  midst  of  the 
desert.  Before  eight  graves  she  struck  her 
chest,  from  the  grave  of  Constantine  she  had  the 
stone  raised.  Rise,  O  my  Constantine,  I  will 
have  my  Arete.  Thou  hast  given  God  for  bond 
and  the  saints  for  witnesses,  that  when  joy  or 
grief  should  happen  thou  wouldst  go  to  fetch 
her.  This  adjuration  brought  him  from  his 
tomb.  Out  of  a  cloud  he  made  a  horse  for  him- 
self, and  out  of  a  star  a  bridle,  he  had  the  moon 
for  companion  and  went  to  fetch  his  sister.  He 
traversed  the  mountain  ranges  and  he  found 
her  combing  her  hair  in  the  moonshine.  He 
saluted  her  from  the  distance,  saying:  Come 
with  me,  my  sister,  our  mother  calls  thee  to  her 
side.  Ah,  my  brother,  at  what  unusual  hour 
thou  callest  on  me.  If  it  is  joy  which  is  waiting 
for  me,  let  me  know  it  that  I  may  put  on  my 
garments  embroidered  with  gold;  if  thou 
grievest  for  a  sad  event  then  I  remain  as  I  am. 
Come  with  me,  my  Arete,  and  remain  as  thou 
art.     Along  the  road  they  went ;  they  met  little 


AN    HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF    GREEK.  23 

birds  singing  and  saying :  Who  has  ever  seen  a 
nice  girl  dragged  away  by  a  dead  man  ?  Do  you 
understand,  my  dear  Constantine,  what  the  little 
birds  are  saying:  Who  has  ever  seen  a  nice  girl 
dragged  away  by  a  dead  man?  They  are  un- 
reasonable birds.  Let  them  sing  and  say  what 
they  like.  They  continued  their  route,  and 
other  birds  said  again :  What  do  we  see !  What 
a  sad  sight !  the  living  travelling  with  the  dead ! 
Did  you  understand,  my  Constantine,  what  the 
birds  were  saying  about  the  living  travelling  with 
the  dead?  They  are  birds;  they  have  nothing 
else  to  do  but  to  sing  and  to  gossip.  I  fear  thee, 
O  my  brother,  thou  hast  the  odor  of  incense. 
Last  night  we  went  to  the  chapel  of  St.  John 
and  the  priest  put  much  incense  in  his  censer. 
They  went  on  further  and  other  birds  said :  God 
Almigthy,  this  is  a  great  miracle  which  thou 
doest!  A  corpse  drags  after  him  a  young  girl 
full  of  beauty  and  of  grace.  Arete  heard  it  and 
her  heart  broke.  Did  you  understand,  my  Con- 
stantine, what  the  little  birds  said?  Tell  me 
where  is  thy  beautiful  hair,  thy  heavy  beard  ?  I 
have  had  a  grave  sickness  which  threatened  to 
be  fatal.  It  is  on  this  account  that  I  have  lost  my 
blond  hair  and  my  heavy  beard.  They  found 
the  house  closed  and  the  door  latched.     Cobwebs 


24      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

were  spread  over  all  the  windows.  Open,  O  my 
mother,  open  for  me.  I  am  your  Arete.  If 
thou  art  Charon,  go  on  thy  way.  I  have  no 
more  children  to  give  thee.  My  poor  Arete  is 
far  from  here,  she  lives  in  a  foreign  land. 
Open,  open,  my  mother.  I  am  thy  Constantine. 
I  gave  thee  God  for  bond  and  the  saints  for  wit- 
nesses that  if  joy  or  sadness  should  happen  I 
would  bring  her  to  thee.  Before  she  could 
reach  the  door  her  soul  departed." 

These  few  examples  show  that  poetry  did  not 
die  out  in  the  land  that  was  at  one  time  so  glori- 
ous. The  germs  still  exist,  and  some  day  the 
rays  of  national  prosperity  may  shine  on  Parnas- 
sus covered  with  a  new  flora. 

May  not  the  form  of  poetry  of  which  the 
above  are  examples  be  the  very  same  form  of 
poetry  that  was  current  among  the  illiterate 
class  of  people  in  ancient  times?  This  form  of 
language  has  not  been  transmitted  by  the  classi- 
cal authors,  but  many  of  the  words  and  gram- 
matical types  are  of  the  remotest  epoch.  They 
have  disappeared  from  literary  language,  but 
never  from  the  language  of  the  people. 

Here  is  a  world  of  study  and  one  that  would 
certainly  prove  more  satisfactory  to  philologist 
and  philological  science  than  the  constant  fault- 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  25 

finding  with  modern  Greek  and  so-called  modern 
Greek  pronunciation. 

The  different  parts  of  Greece  are  widely  scat- 
tered, being  separated  by  the  sea,  by  highlands, 
and  by  other  nations  intervening.  This  peculiar- 
ity of  Greeks  living  secluded  from  Greeks  became 
more  marked  politically  when  the  provinces  of 
the  Byzantine  reign  were  conquered.  This  was 
another  reason  why  a  new  people's  language 
would  not  develop  and  could  not  spread.  A 
new  national  language  understood  by  all  Greeks 
did  not  exist.  There  were  only  the  many  dia- 
lects of  the  different  provinces,  and  so  we  find  in 
regard  to  the  people's  contemporaneous  lan- 
guage polyglossy  on  the  one  hand  and  aglossy 
on  the  other.  The  language  to  which  all  the 
Greeks  adhered  was  the  virginal,  immortal  old 
Greek. 

It  is  true  that  in  Cyprus  and  Crete  attempts 
were  made  for  a  while  to  write  contempora- 
neous language,  but  these  attempts  were  futile. 
Writers  in  the  politically  and  geographically 
lacerated  Greece  wrote  the  idiom  of  their  respec- 
tive provinces.  These  dialects  were  too  much 
intermixed  with  topical  forms  and  expressions 
for  the  majority  of  the  Greeks  to  understand 
them,  and  so  none  of  these  writings  laid  a  foun- 


26       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

dation  for  a  new  literary  language  of  the  whole 
nation.  Besides,  all  these  writings  are  value- 
less; they  show  no  trace  of  genuine  national 
spirit  and  national  character ;  they  are  poor  imi- 
tations of  weak  foreign  originals.  The  difficulty 
of  raising  the  contemporaneous  language  of  Cy- 
prus or  Maina  to  the  dignity  of  a  national  lan- 
guage became  an  impossibility  with  the  conquest 
and  political  destruction  of  these  two  islands. 

The  Turkish  reign  brought  along  with  many 
other  evils  much  ignorance.  This  ignorance, 
one  would  assume,  might  have  favored  the 
abandonment  of  the  old  language.  Indeed,  the 
people's  idioms  were  spoken  during  this  fearftil 
period,  and  attempts  were  made  to  use  the 
vulgar  language  in  literature,  but  more  than 
ever  in  vain.  The  Roman  Catholic  priests,  in 
order  to  make  propaganda  among  the  Greeks, 
used  the  vulgar  language,  and  monks  of  this 
church  have  translated  the  liturgy  into  the  con- 
temporaneous idiom  of  the  people,  some  of  these 
translations  being  printed  even  in  Latin  charac- 
ters; this  same  language  they  spoke  in  church. 
The  Greeks  always  entertained  a  certain  dislike 
toward  the  people's  language,  and  are  careful 
not  to  employ  it  when  they  speak  of  sacred 
things.     In  some  cases  it  was  the  church  which 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  2/ 

caused  constructions  or  changes  in  the  meaning 
of  words.  It  is  on  this  account  that  many  words 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  lost  are  pre- 
served. Some  such  words  became,  so  to  say, 
sanctified,  and  the  contemporaneous  language, 
in  order  not  to  use  these  words  for  profane 
meaning,  was  obliged  to  supply  corresponding 
ones.  A  Greek  will  not  name,  for  instance, 
bread  and  wine,  when  spoken  of  as  being  used 
in  church,  by  the  names  il'ioixi  and  xpa<7i^  which 
words  are  of  the  people's  and  not  of  the  literary 
and  the  church  language,  like  some  others  used 
when  spoken  of  as  sacred,  rrapdi^oi,  the  virgin, 
otherwise  xopczffi,  xopa<nd.  In  addition  to  this 
aversion  against  popular  language  it  came 
about  that  this  despised  language  was  spoken, 
and,  of  course,  badly  spoken,  by  men  who  them- 
selves were  much  hated  by  the  orthodox  Greeks. 

At  the  time  when  the  Turks  conquered  Crete 
and  had  all  Greece  under  their  oppressive  con- 
trol, the  Greeks  commenced  to  contemplate  how 
to  regain  their  liberty  and  independence. 

A  factor  in  favor  of  the  preservation  of  the 
pure  literary  language  during  the  Turkish  reign 
was  that  in  all  the  Greek  colonies,  in  Venice,  in 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  in  Joannina,  in  Con- 
stantinople, in  Smyrna,    in   Jerusalem,    in    Bu- 


2  8       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

charest,  everywhere  numerous  Greek  schools 
were  established  and  the  old  classical  and  new 
books  were  printed.  All  this  kept  up  a  most 
powerful  enthusiasm  for  the  old  classical  Greek 
everywhere.  The  old  classics  were  studied  with 
great  zeal. 

The  Greeks  inspired  themselves  by  thoughts 
of  the  glory  of  Athens  and  Sparta.  They  felt  it 
an  insult  to  be  called  Pu)ij.at6<s  instead  of  "Ellr^^j. 
Vessels  destined  to  form  in  some  future  time  the 
national  navy  were  given  patriotic  names  like 
Athena,  Themistocles,  Epaminondas.  A  strong 
old  Greek  love  for  liberty  and  independence  de- 
veloped in  these  generations.  During  a  period 
of  almost  four  centuries  it  kept  the  hearts  of  all 
Greeks  inflamed,  and  culminated  in  deeds  of 
heroism  in  the  gigantic  war  for  independence. 

It  could  not  be  otherwise  but  that  this  united 
people,  although  united  under  Turkish  bondage, 
should  want  one  common  language.  One  party, 
in  boundless  love  for  all  that  pertained  to  old 
Hellas,  desired  the  language  in  which  the  his- 
tory of  the  deeds  of  the  old  heroism,  of  the  old 
love  for  liberty  was  transmitted;  another  party 
thought  that  such  language  was  an  impossibility, 
and  wanted  a  modern  language  free  from 
archaism  as  the  best  organ  to  educate  and  en- 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  29 

lighten  the  people.  This  led  to  an  excited  lin- 
guistic war. 

This  war  lasted  long,  and  was  carried  on  with 
much  zeal  and  animosity,  but  it  is  all  over  now. 
The  first  party  did  not  succeed  because  it  fought 
against  the  spirit  of  the  time,  which  did  not  ap- 
prove of  such  a  separation  of  the  descendants 
from  the  ancestors,  and  because  the  language  of 
its  literary  productions,  written  in  various  provin- 
cialisms not  understood  by  all,  could  not  possibly 
be  accepted  as  the  general  idiom.  The  second 
party  failed  because  the  archaism  which  they 
wrote  was  not  intelligible  enough  to  the  mass  of 
the  people. 

Since  neither  of  the  two  extremes  succeeded, 
and  neither  the  written  nor  the  spoken  tradi- 
tion would  suffice,  a  middle  way  was  found  and 
accepted ;  both  forms  were  united,  the  one  com- 
plementing the  other ;  a  mixture  of  old  and  new 
elements  was  established.  This  procedure  was 
by  no  means  new  to  the  Greeks ;  it  was  planned 
by  history  itself.  From  its  very  inception  the 
x(>t>^  has  not  been  used  in  its  original  purity ;  dif- 
ferent concessions  were  made  to  the  demands  of 
the  time — that  is,  a  mixture  of  the  old  and  the 
modern  was  formed.  That  such  a  mixture  was 
nothing   extraordinary  or  anything  like  a   dis- 


30      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

turbing  factor  can  be  seen  from  the  mixed  lan- 
guage* of  classical  poets  and  from  the  prose  of 
Xenophon.  In  making  this  mixture  of  old  and 
new  elements  both  were  given  the  old  forms. 
During  the  time  of  the  Atticists  and  the  Byzan- 
tines, as  well  as  afterward  and  down  to  the  pres- 
ent, the  old  elements  were  always  considered  as 
beautiful  and  noble ;  the  new  ones,  however,  as 
ugly  and  hurtful.  The  new  elements  were  in- 
troduced for  the  sake  of  distinctness  and  conven- 
ience; the  elegance  was  looked  for  in  the  old 
words.  This  middle  way  prescribed  by  history 
was  to  unite  the  Greeks,  living,  as  we  have 
seen,  so  to  speak,  in  groups  remote  from  each 
other,  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner,  even 
before  the  war  of  independence. 

The  origin  of  the  Greek  of  to-day  has  been 
discussed  a  great  deal.  In  the  early  part  of 
this  century  some  authors,  especially  Athanasios 
Christopulos,  said  that  the  new  Greek  was  an 
-^olo-Doric  dialect.  This  opinion  has  been  criti- 
cised by  Hatzidakis.  He  found  that  such  asser- 
tion had  no  foundation.  Although  traces  of 
Doric  dialect  could  be  found,  the  fundamental 

*  lu  speaking  of  mixed  language  in  regard  to  Greek  it  is  not 
meant  to  imply  that  Greek  had  any  foreign  elements.  In  this 
latter  sense  Greek  was  never  a  mixed  language.  The  living 
Greek  is  the  genuine  daughter  of  the  old  Greek, 


AN    HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  3 1 

character  was  the  xocvtj.  New  Greek  could  not 
be  called  ^olo-Doric  on  account  of  the  few 
Doric  elements  it  contained. 

The  literary  Greek  of  to-day  consists  of  three 
elements: 

1.  Of  Attic  words,  forms,  and  constructions 
which  after  the  fall  of  Greece  composed  the 
simplified  language,  the  xocvvj,  and  of  elements 
which,  in  conformity  with  the  rules  and  laws  of 
the  language,  have  developed  during  the  follow- 
ing centuries. 

2.  Of  some  words,  forms,  and  constructions 
which  during  the  classical  time  developed  in  the 
old  dialects,  which,  however,  entered  into  the 
Attic  or  into  the  x(w^-^,  and  thus  formed  a  part  of 
the  entire  xoc^vj. 

3.  Of  some  elements  of  old  dialects  which 
have  not  come  with  the  xoorj,  nor  through  the 
xo(V7jj  but,  on  the  contrary,  independent  from  it, 
have  been  taken  into  the  new  Greek  literary  lan- 
guage. 

How  these  elements  were  introduced  into  the 
xotvTj  is  a  question  which  would  lead  too  far  into 
philological  study  to  be  ventilated  here.  To 
enumerate  examples  of  words  and  forms  of  old 
dialects  thus  introduced,  words  which  are  fam- 
iliar to   everybody,  I  will   mention   ddXaffaa  in- 


32       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

stead  of  edUrra,  and  the  word  aXixriop,  which  was 
unknown  in  the  Attic.  The  Athenians  during 
the  classical  period  did  by  no  means  speak  the 
pure  and  fine  Attic  of  Plato  and  Demosthenes; 
this  can  be  shown  by  quotations  from  some  old 
writers  and  also  by  inscriptions.  It  is  most 
probable  that  some  elements  from  old  dialects 
have  entered  into  the  Attic  and  later  on  into 
the  xoiVT). 

The  literary  Greek  language  of  to-day  owes 
its  existence,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  exertions  of 
the  great  patriot  Korai's.  Although  the  party  of 
the  xadapttTTai  and  the  party  of  the  xobdiarai  both 
stood  up  against  Korais,  the  power  of  history, 
which  was  on  Korais *s  side,  was  too  strong  for 
both  parties,  as  we  have  seen. 

AdariavTio?  Koparj<i  was  bom  April  27th,  1747, 
in  Smyrna.  From  early  youth  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  old  and  new  lan- 
guages. In  obedience  to  his  father's  wishes,  he 
followed  a  mercantile  career  during  the  years 
1772-78,  without,  however,  neglecting  the 
sciences.  From  1782-88  he  studied  medicine  in 
Montpellier  and  established  himself  as  a  practis- 
ing physician  in  Paris.  From  there  he  worked 
incessantly  for  the  education  of  his  compatriots, 
and  endeavored  to  awaken  a  favorable  opinion  of 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  33 

his  nation  in  the  Occidental  countries.  In  1800 
he  received  the  prize  of  the  Academy  for  an 
edition  of  the  writings  of  Hippocrates,  but  be- 
fore this  time  he  had  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  world  of  learning  by  his  ability.  Later  on 
he  gained  fame  by  his  Greek  translation  of  Bec- 
caria's  work  on  crimes  and  their  punishments. 
This  was  followed  by  a  work  entitled  ''  De  V etat 
actuel  de  la  civilisation  en  Grece'  (Paris,  1803). 
This  was  the  first  publication  in  Europe  which 
gave  true  information  on  the  intellectual  and 
moral  conditions  of  the  new  Greeks.  During  the 
period  from  1805-27  he  published  a  collection — 
twenty  volumes — of  old  Greek  classics,  with 
critical  explanations  and  prolegomena.  In  the 
latter  he  gave  his  patriotic  teachings  and  ad- 
vices. His  greatest  merit  consisted  in  his  pro- 
moting the  Greek  language;  he  eliminated  as 
much  as  possible  all  foreign  elements,  but  re- 
tained all  that  was  good  and  useful  from  all 
centuries,  rejecting  the  one-sided  retention  of  the 
old  words  and  forms  as  not  compatible  with  the 
understanding  of  the  people.  He  above  all 
helped  to  establish  a  noble  literary  language. 
On  account  of  his  old  age  he  could  take  no  part 
in  the  rising  of  his  fatherland  in  1 82 1 ,  but  aided 
it  greatly  by  his  patriotic  pen.     When  Greece 


34      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

had  gained  her  independence  he  took  an  active 
interest  in  the  new  formation  of  his  country.  In 
1830-31  he  attacked  the  government  of  Kapo- 
distria  in  two  publications.  These  books  were 
in  1832  publicly  destroyed  on  the  stake  in  Nau- 
plia  by  order  of  the  brother  of  the  president, 
Augustine  Kapodistria.  He  died  in  1833.  His 
autobiography  appeared  in  Paris  in  the  same 
year. 

As  we  have  seen,  Korai's  was  still  alive  during 
the  great  national  war.  In  the  first  year  the 
necessity  of  draughting  a  constitution  and  of 
enacting  legislation  arose.  Which  language 
should  be  chosen?  The  contemporaneous  peo- 
ple's language  was  not  feasible,  because  it  was 
as  varied  as  possible ;  the  Greeks  as  an  entirety 
could  not  have  understood  it ;  besides,  this  peo- 
ple's language  was  poor  and  incapable  of  ex- 
pressing ideas.  The  majority  of  the  men  com- 
posing the  delegations  were  not  teachers,  or 
professors,  or  archaeologists;  they  were  physi- 
cians, sailors,  merchants,  priests,  soldiers,  and 
they  used  the  mixed  language  sanctioned  by 
practical  use  at  that  time.  This  language  of 
the  constitution  and  the  legislation  was  the  same 
as  that  in  which  the  journals  were  written,  in 
which  the  correspondence  was  kept.     It  was  a 


AN    HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF    GREEK.  35 

time  of  activity,  of  great  national  impulse  when 
this  language  was  thus  officially  adopted,  this 
language  which  had  been  predestined  by  history. 
When  Greece  had  regained  her  liberty  after 
almost  four  centuries  of  Turkish  bondage  a 
regular  government  was  to  be  erected.  Count- 
less numbers  of  demands  were  made  on  the  lan- 
guage. A  new  life,  a  culture  of  which  there 
had  been  no  idea  before,  appeared  suddenly 
before  the  Greeks.  The  language  had  to  keep 
pace  with  the  many  new  political,  scientific, 
technical,  commercial,  journalistic  requirements. 
Another  nation  would  certainly  under  such  cir- 
cumstances simply  have  adopted  with  the  for- 
eign ideas  the  words  also  of  foreign  people,  and 
would  have  formed  a  half-French  and  half- 
hybrid  language.  Not  so  the  Greeks.  Their 
history,  their  national  pride,  led  them  to  ex- 
clude foreign  words,  led  them  to  take  the  neces- 
sary elements  from  the  old  Greek  to  create  new 
symbols  for  new  ideas.  This  was  a  gigantic 
work.  Stephanos  Kumanudes  has  enumerated 
thirty  thousand  words  which  have  been  created 
during  the  last  hundred  years.  Let  us  illustrate 
how  the  work  was  done  by  a  few  examples: 
During  the  eighteenth  century  the  foreign  word 
azaixTtepia  had  been  used  to  designate  a  printing 


36       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

establishment,  then  ro-oypaipia  had  been  formed, 
and  from  the  latter  a  great  many  combinations 
were  made  which  could  not  possibly  have  been 
formed  from  araiir.spia.  In  the  same  manner  was 
a/Jouzriro^,  then  the  genuine  Greek  durjydpo?,  or  first 
TTOffva,  the  raxudpufiBiov,  etc.  Thesc  and  thousands 
of  foreign  words  are  now  entirely  out  of  use,  and 
may  be  known  only  to  the  oldest  people ;  the 
majority  of  the  Greeks  have  no  recollection  of 
them.  This  process  continues  wherever  a  for- 
eign word  has  been  introduced.  In  my  child's 
dX<pai37jrdpto>  I  find  the  word  /xai/xoo  (monkey).  In 
vain  should  I  look  for  it  in  a  Greek  dictionary. 
It  is  not  a  regular  word  adopted  by  the  literary 
language.  From  nai/io6  we  can  form  the  diminu- 
tive fiaifiouddxc,  but  that  is  all;  while  from  the 
genuine   and   regular   word   ttWtjxo?   1    can   form 

Tzidrjxt^w,  TuOriXL<Tfx6<s^  7:c0rjXt(TTij<Sj  etC.       This  shoWS  hoW 

the  metaphoric  use  of  words  like  fxai/io6  is  very 
limited,  that  of  -tOrjxo?,  however,  very  extended. 
This  facility  of  combinations  which  is  so  fre- 
quent is  a  great  advantage  in  regard  to  genuine 
and  regular  Greek  words. 

Greek,  the  new  literary  language,  has  steadily 
become  richer  and  more  homogeneous  ever  since 
1 821;  it  undergoes  changes  all  the  time.  Con- 
struction  and  forms    are  constantly  remodelled 


AN    HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  37 

after  the  old  Greek,  especially  in  those  words 
and  expressions  which  are  taken  from  the  old 
language;  notwithstanding  this  the  new  Greek 
remains  a  mixed  language.  The  remodelling  is 
called  purification.  Incorrect  elements,  when 
discovered,  are  extirpated  with  more  and  more 
severity  and  tact.  Greek  has  changed  from  age 
to  age  because  it  has  continued  to  live;  only 
what  is  dead,  like  Latin,  does  not  change  any 
more.  The  Greeks  now  possess  a  highly  devel- 
oped language ;  they  can  without  much  difficulty 
translate  every  thought  expressed  in  foreign 
idiom  into  their  mixed  language,  a  thing  which 
even  Korais  did  not  always  succeed  in.  The 
Greeks  of  all  parts  can  communicate  with  each 
other  easily  without  the  slightest  fear  of  being 
misunderstood.  Babylonian  difficulties  are  an 
impossibility  to-day.  To  what  extent  this  lan- 
guage has  spread  we  find  when  we  consider 
the  highly  developed  journalism,  and  the  in- 
numerable works  which  have  been  translated 
from  other  languages  into  Greek.  Greek  is  the 
language  of  culture  in  the  Orient. 

By  the  establishment  of  this  literary  language 
quite  remarkable  advantages  have  been  gained. 
Everything  written  by  the  Greeks  of  to-day 
can  easily  be  understood  by  all  those  who  have 


38       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

learned  a  little  Greek  in  colleges  in  foreign 
lands.  This  could  not  be  the  case  if  some  of  the 
dialects  had  been  adopted.  The  greatest  of  all 
advantages,  the  most  important,  is  the  marked 
similarity  which  exists  between  the  literary  lan- 
guage of  to-day  and  the  old  Greek  in  regard  to 
orthography  and  forms.  For  this  reason  the  old 
Greek  is  not  like  a  foreign  language  to  the 
Greeks  of  to-day.  How  deplorable  if  it  were 
otherwise,  if  the  immortal  treasures  of  the  old 
literature  were  not  their  own !  They  would  not 
be  if  another  system,  if  the  Latin  alphabet, 
which  was  tried  during  the  Prankish  reign,  had 
been  adopted. 

Let  us  once  more  take  a  look  at  the  language 
question  as  it  stood,  and,  as  some  will  have  it, 
as  it  stands  perhaps  among  some  querulous 
people  to-day.  There  existed  in  Greece  until 
the  language  question  was  firmly  settled  three 
parties : 

I.     The      Purists      or      AtticistS,      xaOapinrai,      or 

xadapiarai  ri^?  yXmffffrjq,  as  Korais  Called  them,  who 
wish  to  carry  purification  to  the  extreme ;  they 
recognize  only  those  words  which  are  found  in  the 
old  Greek  literature  as  entitled  to  be  accepted  in 
new  Greek.  It  is  plausible  to  any  one  that  not 
all  words  which  really  existed  in  the  old  Greek 


AN   HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF   GREEK.  39 

language  have  been  employed  in  literature,  and 
besides,  a  considerable,  say  the  largest,  part  of 
the  literature  vhich  once  existed  in  old  Hellas 
has  not  come  to  us ;  thus  these  purists  seem  to 
place  old  Greek  on  the  same  footing  with  Latin. 

2.  Those  who  adhered,  and  adhere,  to  the 
literary  language  in  use  to-day. 

3.  Those  who  wished,  and  wish,  for  the  vul- 
gar Greek  idiom ;  these  are  called  the  /y<5ai  <Tra:'. 

That  the  Hyperatticists  did  not  and  will  not 
succeed  can  be  seen  from  history.  Two  thou- 
sand years  ago  Atticists,  like  Phrynichos,  Mocris, 
and  their  disciples,  were  carrying  on  the  same 
controversy;  they  wanted  the  same  purification 
as  the  xadapifftai  of  to-day,  but  in  vain. 

Prose,  science,  school,  and  press  will  uphold 
the  literary  language;  poetry,  especially  the 
comical,  will  find  its  appropriate  organ  in  the 
people's  demotic  (Klephtan  songs,  almanacs, 
comic  journals)  idiom.  This  will  be  as  it  was 
during  the  golden  age  of  Greece,  as  is  found  in 
the  chorus  of  the  Attic  tragedy  and  in  lyric 
poetry. 

Modern   literary  Greek,   as  history  shows,   is 

but  Attic  simplified  and  complemented.* 

*  A  Greek  translation  of  this  lecture  appeared  in  the  Athe- 
nian journal  Katpoi,  June,  1896. 


CHAPTER   II.  ' 

THE    PROPER    PRONUNCIATION    OF    GREEK.* 

One  of  the  principal  points  in  the  study  of  a 
language  is  the  knowledge  and  the  application 
of  its  correct  pronunciation.  In  order  to  learn 
the  true  pronunciation,  one  is  obliged  to  go  to 
the  only  rational  and  pure  source,  that  is,  to  the 
people  who  speak  the  language;  in  the  case  of 
Greek,  to  the  Greeks. 

In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  after 
the  fall  of  Constantinople,  Greek  fugitives  came 
to  all  parts  of  Europe.  The  desire  to  do  charity 
to  these  refugees  without  humiliating  them  too 
much  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  take  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  offered  to  learn  their  language 
on  the  other,  induced  many  persons  to  take 
Greek  lessons  from  these  Greeks.  It  became 
fashionable  for  every  prince  and  every  noble- 
man to  have  a  Greek  preceptor  in  his  family. 
In  every  university  a  chair  for  Greek  was  estab- 
lished. This  movement  was  similar  to  those 
taking    place    later    on    with    reference    to   the 

♦Lecture  delivered  in  Hossack  Hall,  Academy  of  Medicine, 
New  York,  June,  1896. 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.    4 1 

French  language  in  Germany,  England,  Switzer- 
land, and  Holland  when  Frenchmen  were  forced 
to  emigrate  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  and  later  still,  during  the  French  Revo- 
lution. 

With  the  introduction  of  the  Greek  language 
everywhere,  Greek  type  was  cast  and  editions  of 
Greek  authors  were  printed,  most  of  them  with 
learned  notes  and  Latin  translations.  The 
students  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
preferred  to  learn  the  language  by  means  of 
translations  rather  than  by  the  aid  of  the  lexicon. 

Europe  had  soon  an  immense  number  of  Hel- 
lenists able  to  converse  in  the  purest  old  Greek 
with  their  teachers,  the  Greeks  from  Constanti- 
nople, and  later  on  the  former  became  teachers 
themselves,  surrounded  by  students.  Among 
these  Hellenists  were  Reuchlin,  Melanchthon, 
Luther,  and  Erasmus. 

All  had,  of  course,  the  Byzantine  pronuncia- 
tion, which  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Greeks   of   to-day,  and^^also   that    of   the    Attic 


With  the  end   of   the   sixteenth    century  the  -"-*'^  '-' 
pronunciation    of   Greek   in  the    schools  in   the^ 
countries  west  of  Greece  became  unsystematical,  ,.,  ^  ..  ..^ 
the  language  as  it  was  then  pronounced  in  the 


-c 


42       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

* 

schools  became  unintelligible  to  the  different 
peoples,  and  especially  to  the  Greeks.  This 
strange  pronunciation  owes  its  origin  to  the 
lucubrations  of  a  scholar,  and  is  in  opposition  to 
old  and  new  traditions  of  the  Greeks. 

Dr.  Edward  Engel,  in  his  book  entitled:  "Die 
Aussprache  des  Griechischen,"  has  given  the 
history,  and  in  very  plain  words  the  definition 
of  the  school  pronunciation  of  Greek.  Many 
others  before  Engel,  convinced  that  this  pronun- 
ciation was  incorrect  and  unscientific,  had  raised 
their  voices;  to  Engel,  however,  is  due  the 
credit  that  his  book  made  it  impossible  for  any 
college  professor  to  defend  this  school  pronun- 
ciation as  correct  or  justifiable,  and  learnedly  to 
pull  the  wool  over  anybody's  eyes.  It  is  a  curi- 
ous fact  that  most  of  those  men  of  profound 
learning  who  wrote  for  the  school  and  against 
the  true  Greek  pronunciation  had  absolutely  no 
knowledge  of  the  latter.  Had  they  possessed 
such  knowledge,  and  had  they  compared  the 
pronunciation  which  the  old  inscriptions  give 
with  that  of  the  living  Greek  of  to-day,  they 
could  not  have  remained  opposed  to  truth  with  a 
stubbornness  which  is  incomprehensible. 

This  school  pronunciation  is  an  invention  of 
Desiderius   Erasmus,    called    Rotterdamus,    and 


J^ROPER   MONUNCIAtlON   OF   GREEK.  43 

this  invention  he  has  described  in  his  book,  en- 
titled, "  De  recta  latini  graecique  sermonis  pro- 
nunciatione  dialogus,"  and  printed  in  1528. 

There  is  a  funny  German  story  of  a  race  be- 
tween a  hare  and  a  pig,  which  commences  as 
follows :  "  This  story  sounds  like  a  lie ;  it  must 
be  true,  however,  otherwise  we  could  not  tell 
it."  These  words  are  a  most  appropriate  intro- 
duction to  the  history  of  the  Erasmian  pronun- 
ciation. The  history  is  true,  the  dialogue 
exists,  this  most  absurd  pronunciation  has  been 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation  down 
to  the  present  day,  that  is,  through  three  cen- 
turies. 

When,  as  we  have  seen,  after  the  conquest  of 
Constantinople  Greek  scholars  came  to  Western 
European  countries  and  there  gave  lessons  in 
the  language  of  their  ancestors,  pupils  did  not 
doubt  that  their  pronunciation  had  a  historical 
right.  Reuchlin,  the  great  German  philologist 
of  the  time  of  the  Renaissance,  had  learned  and 
taught  the  Greek  language  with  the  pronun- 
ciation of  his  Greek  contemporaries,  hence  all 
persons  who  follow  his  example  are  called 
Reuchlinians.  Even  Erasmus  himself  spoke  ac- 
cording to  the  Reuchlinian,  but  never  in  his 
life  according  to  the  method  called  after  him; 


44       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

he  also  taught  his  students  the  Reuchlinian  pro- 
nunciation. Moreover,  he  requested  his  Greek 
friend  Laskaris  to  furnish  him  a  Greek  teacher 
in  order  that  his  own  children  should  learn  the 
correct  pronunciation.  The  fact  that  he  spoke 
Reuchlinian  can  be  established  by  quotations 
from  one  of  his  colloquies,  where  the  following 
end  rhymes  are  found :  Echo  rhymes :  eruditionis 
— ovot^ ;  episcopi — xonot ;  ariolari — Xdpoi ;  astrologi 
— ^o/ot;  grammatiki — eixi;;  fameliki — Xoxot. 

It  was  not  until  fifty  or  more  years  after  Eras- 
mus' death  that  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  was 
adopted. 

The  above-mentioned  dialogue  "  de  recta  pro- 
nunciatione"  is  indebted,  as  Engel  narrates,  ac- 
cording to  well-authenticated  tradition,  to  the 
following  farce:  Erasmus,  who  was  childishly 
vain  of  his  Latin  and  Greek  knowledge,  and 
who  styled  himself  "  the  most  amiable  prince  of 
science,"  met  with  the  following  adventure:  A 
gay  visitor  from  Paris,  inclined  to  perpetrate  all 
kinds  of  roguery,  told  him  the  following  fib:  He 
had  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  Greeks,  very 
erudite  men,  who  spoke  in  a  manner  entirely 
different  from  that  in  which  all  the  world  pro- 
nounced the  Greek.  And  then  he  showed  Eras- 
mus how  these  remarkable  Greeks   spoke:    ex- 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     45 

actly  as  if  Greek  were  Dutch.  Whether  Eras- 
mus put  full  or  only  partial  faith  in  this  story,  it 
is  certain  he  wished  to  use  it  in  order  to  pamper 
his  vanity;  he  intended  to  pose  before  the 
learned  world  as  the  inventor  of  this  latest 
sagacity.  Another  version  is  that  Erasmus 
himself  intended  a  practical  joke  in  writing  this 
"dialogus  de  recta  pronunciatione"  and  was 
amazed  at  being  taken  seriously  by  men  of 
learning. 

This  dialogue,  as  already  said,  was  composed 
in  1528.  Most  of  the  contestants  in  the  battle 
about  the  Greek  pronunciation  have  not  even 
read  this  manifesto.  It  assumes  the  shape  of  a 
dialogue  between  a  bear  and  a  lion,  and  is  ex- 
ceedingly tedious,  a  feeble  and  attenuated  waltz 
in  trivial  Latin. 

The  bear  informed  the  lion  that  the  old 
Greeks  might  have  possessed  the  Dutch  pronun- 
ciation, interspersed  here  and  there  with  speci- 
mens of  French  expressions.  This  nonsense 
spread  like  a  prairie  fire.  A  flood  of  pamphlets 
agreeing  with  this  dialogue  was  the  result.  The 
professors  of  Greek  need  not  boast  of  the  history  of 
their  pronunciation  of  the  Greek  language;  it  shows 
anything  but  a  scientific  basis.  If  any  one  doubts 
the  truth  of   this   statement,  let   him    read  the 


46       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

dialogue  referred  to;  it  can  still  be  obtained.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  marvel  at  this  story.  The 
dialogue  was  publivshed  at  a  time  when,  in  spite 
of  profound  erudition,  there  was  hardly  an  ink- 
ling of  the  substratum  of  a  language,  or  even  of 
the  true  relation  of  languages  to  each  other,  to 
be  found  in  the  world  of  learning;  at  a  time 
when  the  greatest  imaginable  nonsense  was 
uttered  in  an  erudite  manner.  (Specimens  in 
point  are  the  Latin  essays,  comprising  large  vol- 
umes, concerning  the  question  whether  Adam 
was  created  with  a  navel.)  At  a  large  waste  of 
learning,  it  was  also  proven  at  that  period  that 
Adam  and  Eve,  before  biting  into  the  apple  in 
Paradise,  must  have  spoken  Dutch,  but  after  the 
fall,  the  French  language. 

As  a  diversion,  let  us  take  but  a  small  sample 
of  the  comic  ingenuousness  from  the  dialogue : 

"  The  lion  asks :  Quo  sono  credis  haec  veteres 
extulisse  ? 

"Ursus:  Referam  quod  in  senatu  grammati- 
corum  audivi  (namely,  from  the  Parisian  rogue). 

"Leo:  Sat  erit. 

"  Ursus :  Conjecturam  faciebant  ex  Unguis 
popularibus,  in  quibus  utcunque  corruptis  resi- 
dent an ti quae  pronunciationis  vestigia,  oi  diph- 
thongus    gallis    quibusdam    est    familiarissima, 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     47 

quum  vulgari  more  dicunt:  mihi,  tibi,  sibi  (moi, 
toi,  soi) ;  aut  pronunciant  fidem,  legem  ac  regem 
(foi,  loi,  roi).  Hie  enim  audis  evidentur  utram- 
que  vocalem  o  et  i. 

"  Leo :  Sic  est  profecto. 

"Ursus:  Ad  eum  prope  modum  sonuisse 
ve teres  arbitror  110 i  aoi^  Tohn  et  xupiot. 

"Leo:  Probabile  narras."     And  so  on. 

The  admirers  of  the  great  man  of  Rotterdam 
in  different  countries  followed  his  system ;  they 
pronounced  the  Greek  according  to  his  instruc- 
tion, or  as  if  it  were  written  in  their  own  native 
tongue.  The  consequence  was  that  since  the 
sixteenth  century  a  Babylonian  confusion  has 
prevailed  concerning  Greek  pronunciation.  No- 
body understands  the  Greek  of  a  foreigner,  still 
less  that  of  a  Greek.  The  small  boy,  when  he 
learned  in  his  book  of  natural  history  that  the 
whale  belonged  to  the  class  of  mammalia,  re- 
marked that  the  whale  had  brought  disorder  into 
zoology.  Erasmus,  indeed,  is  the  whale  in  phi- 
lology. It  is  impossible  to  say  haw  much  dis- 
order this  man  has  caused  during  the  past  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  years — that  is,  since  he 
introduced  his  absurd  pronunciation. 

While  it  is  amusing  to  read  the  origin  of  the 
Erasmian   pronunciation,    the    matter    presents 


48       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

also  a  very  sad  aspect.  The  introduction  of  the 
Erasmian  absurdity  was  the  death-blow  to  the 
knowledge  of  living  Greek  in  Western  Europe. 
Greek  was  only  read,  but  no  longer  spoken  since 
the  Hellenists  of  the  different  countries  Eras- 
mized  each  in  his  own  manner;  the  fearful  ca- 
cophony of  Erasmus  took  away  the  charms 
except  those  which  were  left  for  the  deaf  and 
dumb.  But  even  though  the  Greek  existed  only 
for  the  eye,  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  it  was  still 
beautiful;  even  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  did 
not  prevent  its  being  studied  and  its  literature 
read.  Still,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  perfectly 
arbitrary,  senseless  invention  of  a  cranky  pedant 
should  have  remained  in  force  these  three  cen- 
turies. The  attempts  to  justify  it,  composing  a 
bulky  literature,  dating  back  to  1528,  are  all 
based  on  sophistry. 

While  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  confessed 
that  this  pronunciation  of  Greek  was  really  in- 
correct, and  that  they  kept  it  up  for  convenience' 
sake,  there  .were  until  recently  Germans  who 
mounted  the  high  horse  and  persuaded  them- 
selves and  their  pupils  that  the  Erasmian  pro- 
nunciation was  really  the  correct  one.  They 
took  pains  to  invent  scientific  proofs  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  Erasmian  method. 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     49 

Whoever  believes  that  such  learned  men  did 
not  exist  in  our  times  need  only  read  a  pro- 
foundly learned  book,  written  by  Friedrich 
Blass,  entitled :  "  Ueber  die  Aussprache  des 
Griechischen."  Berlin:  Weidmann,  3  Aufl., 
1888. 

A  prince  once  offered  a  prize  for  an  essay  on 
the  question :  Why  were  the  tails  of  fishes  longer 
in  winter  than  in  summer;  and  great  academi- 
cians of  his  country  presented  the  most  convinc- 
ing proofs  from  Pliny,  Galen,  and  other  sources 
in  support  of  this  fish-tail  question.  Friedrich 
Blass  with  his  book  can  well  be  compared  with 
these  academicians ;  his  proofs  of  the  correctness 
of  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  were  as  ridicu- 
lous as  were  those  that  fish-tails  were  longer  in 
winter  than  in  summer.  Engel  quotes  some 
drastic  passages  from  Blass'  work,  and  criticises 
them  severely.  It  cannot  be  the  plan  of  this 
paper  to  enter  into  details;  whoever  wishes  to 
study  this  question,  although  Erasmus  is  at  last 
dead  now,  will  find  enough  material  in  Engel's 
book,  and  still  more  in  the  more  elaborate  work 

of  PapadimitraCOpOUloS :    Bdaavo^  rmv  nspl   r^?  kkXrivt- 
z^9     7:po(p()pa.<$    ipafffitxaiv     dizodsi^eiov.       Athens:      1 889, 

752  pages.     Engel  compares  Blass  with  Moliere's 
Sganarelle.     The  quack  Sganarelle  palms  him- 


50       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

self  off  as  a  physician  and  explains  to  the  father 
of  a  young  lady  who  is  dumb  the  cause  of  her 
infirmity. 

"  Sganarelle :  The  dumbness  is  caused  by  the 
loss  of  speech. 

"Geronte:  Very  well.  But  please  tell  me 
what  caused  the  loss  of  her  speech  ? 

"  Sganarelle :  All  our  best  authorities  will  tell 
you  that  the  cause  is  to  be  found  in  a  cessation 
of  the  action  of  the  tongue. 

"  Geronte :  Yes,  but  how  do  you  think  did  this 
cessation  originate? 

"Sganarelle:  Aristotle  says  very  interesting 
things  on  this  subject. 

"  Geronte :  I  presume  so. 

"  Sganarelle :  Oh,  that  was  a  great  man ! 

"  Geronte :  No  doubt. 

"  Sganarelle :  Do  you  understand  Latin  ? 

"  Geronte :  Not  a  word. 

"  Sganarelle  (suddenly  jumping  up) :  You  do 
not  understand  Latin?  Cabricias  arci  thuram, 
catalamus,  singulariter,  nominativo,  haec  musa, 
bonus,  bona,  bonum. 

"  Jacquelin  (the  servant  girl) :  Ah,  what  a 
smart  man !" 

The  lucubrations  of  Prof.  Friedrich  Blass, 
embodied  in  the  above-named  book,  have  been 


PROPER   PRONUNCIATION    OF    GREEK.  5  I 

completely  refuted  by  Papadimitracopoulos. 
His  book  is  the  most  exhaustive  ever  written  on 
Greek  pronunciation. 

It  is  true  German  philologists  have  at  last 
acknowledged — thanks  to  the  just  and  severe 
criticism  of  men  like  Papadimitracopoulos — that 
the  Erasmian  pronunciation  is  faulty.  They 
have  ceased  to  dispute  about  Erasmian  and 
Reuchlinian  methods;  they  study  instead  with 
admirable  zeal  the  inscriptions  and  establish 
the  times  at  which  the  pronunciation  of  the 
different  written  sounds  were  transformed  into 
the  pronunciation  of  the  Greeks  of  to-day.  They 
found  that  there  has  been  no  material  change 
these  two  thousand  years.  Despite  the  fact 
that  the  stones  tell  the  exact  truth  unmistak- 
ably, as  we  shall  see  presently,  how  Greek 
was  pronounced  in  every  century  ever  since  the 
seventh  before  Christ ;  despite  the  fact  that  the 
German  schoolmasters,  as  well  as  the  archaeol- 
ogists of  all  other  countries,  read  this  conclusive 
evidence  about  the  only  correct  Greek  pronun- 
ciation— this  story  sounds  like  a  lie,  but  it  must 
be  true,  otherwise  it  could  not  be  told — they  re- 
tain to  this  very  day  the  Erasmian  pronunciation 
in  their  schools,  and  many  other  schools  in  other 
countries  do  likewise. 


52       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

Allow  me  now  to  read  a  letter  which  I  re- 
ceived recently  from  a  professor  of  Greek  of  one 
of  our  colleges,  a  man  who  has  written  a  treatise 
on  the  teaching  of  the  classical  languages.  This 
letter  will  illustrate  what  arguments  some  of  our 
professors  of  Greek  produce  to  suppress  his- 
torical truth. 

March  qth,  1896. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

You  sent  me  a  letter  addressed  to during 

my  absence  in  Europe.  I  was  away  two  years. 
I  regret  that  in  consequence  of  confusion  among 
my  papers,  my  answer  has  been  delayed  until 
this  time. 

I  am  not  able  to  put  my  hand  on  the  pamphlet 
to  which  you  refer  in  your  letter.  Indeed,  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  copy  which  you  sent  to  me  ever 
reached  me.  But,  nevertheless,  I  have  learnt 
through  conversation  with  others  the  subject  of 
your  thesis. 

This  whole  matter  is  one  of  extreme  difficulty. 
If  Erasmus  had  never  written  his  celebrated 
dialogue,  the  movement  which  Reuchlin  had  be- 
gun in  Germany  would  have  spread,  I  have  no 
doubt,  over  the  rest  of  Europe.*  At  the  present 
time  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  so  called  has 
securely  established  itself.  The  difficulty  of 
introducing   the   modern   Greek    pronunciation, 

*  I  beg  to  say  that  Reuchlin  did  not  commence  a  movement, 
but  simply  adhered  to  the  only  correct  pronunciation. 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     53 

either  among  physicians  or  in  schools,  is  very 
great.  I  believe  myself  that  we  should  all  be 
better  off  if  the  modern  Greek  pronunciation  had 
early  been  adopted  and  had  always  been  used 
among  scholars.  /  do  not  believe  for  a  moment 
that  the  jnodern  Greek  pronunciation  represents  the 
ancient  practice,  but  the  practical  advantages  of 
using  it  seem  to  me  to  be  very  great,  although  I 
have  a  less  high  view  of  the  modern  Greeks  and 
their  language  than  I  had  before  my  recent 
residence  in  Athens  of  eight  months.  There  is 
absolutely  no  modern  literature  worthy  of  the 
name.  I  find  in  conversation  with  my  col- 
leagues and  other  professional  friends,  a  very 
fierce  objection  to  disturbing  the  established 
practice.  T  have  no  doubt  that  Blass'  very  extraor- 
dinary book,  which  has  been  translated  into  English 
by  W.  J.  Pur  ton,  under  the  title,  ''Pronunciation  of 
Ancient  Greek,""  and  is  published  by  Macmillan  & 
Co.,  New  York,  has  done  much  to  strengthen 
the  faith  of  those  who  believe  that  we  ought 
not  to  adopt  in  schools  the  modern  Greek  prac- 
tice. 

It  would  be  most  unfortunate  to  provoke  a  dis- 
cussion which  led  to  nothing  other  than  a  hot 
division  of  opinion.  We  Greeks  must  not  set  to 
quarrelling  among  ourselves.  We  have  difficulty 
enough  at  the  present  time  to  maintain  ourselves 
in  a  community,  a  large  part  of  which  does  not 
know  what  is  best  for  itself. 

With  renewed  expression  of   regret  that  my 


54       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

answer  to  your  letter  should  have  been  so  long 
deferred,  I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours. 

I  wish  to  add  to  this  letter  a  few  remarks 
which  do  not  exactly  concern  the  Greek  pronun- 
ciation, but  the  calumniation  of  the  living 
Greek,  which  is  the  manifestation  of  a  con- 
vSpiracy  of  ignorance  and  malevolence  against 
Greece.  Just  such  men  who  have  travelled  a 
little  in  Greece  write  in  a  vein  peculiar  to  many 
tourists  in  general;  they  delight  in  exaggera- 
tions of  exceptional  and  accidental  incidents, 
and  generalize  from  them.  Thus,  an  English- 
man writes  that  he  finds  in  the  modern  Greek 
stereotyped  phrases  most  distasteful  to  the 
scholar.  Sure  enough  he  could  have  found 
such  phrases  at  home  and  everywhere.  Every- 
where scholarly  speaking  and  writing  is  the 
exception,  the  commonplace  is  the  rule.  That 
wise  Mirza  truthfully  has  said :  "  I  will  praise 
God  that  not  all  men  are  wise,  because  if  they 
were,  wisdom  would  be  too  cheap." 

German  residents  of  Athens  have  sent  a  peti- 
tion to  Emperor  William  of  Germany  request- 
ing to  have  the  living  Greek  pronunciation 
adopted  in  the  German  schools.     The  petitioners 


PROPER   PRONUNCIATION    OF   GREEK.  55 

say  that  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  is  an  arbi- 
trary one,  by  no  means  agreeing  with  the  one 
which  had  existed  during  the  classical  period  of 
Hellas.  They  further  say  that  the  literary  lan- 
guage of  the  Greeks  of  to-day  is  almost  equal  to 
the  old  Greek.  Every  German  student  who 
has  passed  through  the  gymnasium  is  able, 
without  further  preparation,  to  understand  mod- 
ern Greek  works,  yet  he  cannot  pronounce  cor- 
rectly the  living  Greek.  For  members  of  the 
German  archaeological  institution,  for  instance, 
it  is  very  painful  to  have  to  learn  over  again,  on 
coming  to  Athens,  the  Greek  language,  the  lan- 
guage to  the  study  of  which  they  had  devoted 
many  years  of  assiduous  labor,  for  the  reason 
that  they  had  been  taught  at  school  the  Eras- 
mian pronunciation  which  deviates  entirely  from 
the  pronunciation  of  the  living  Greek.  The 
document  then  enters  on  the  pronunciation  of 
the  different  written  soimds.  Finally,  it  is 
pointed  out  that  the  Erasmian  pronunciation  has 
been  already  abandoned  in  the  colleges  of  Italy, 
Belgium,  Holland,  England  (they  might  have 
added,  last  but  not  least,  America),  and  that  it 
is  high  time  that  Germany  should  have  done 
with  the  Erasmian  tradition. 

The  Emperor  of  Germany  has  lost  this  oppor- 


56       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

tunity  to  earn  the  praise  and  the  thanks  of  com- 
ing generations,  and  has  left  this  to  the  French 
Government,  which  has  now,  recognizing  his- 
torical truth,  decided  to  introduce  the  living 
Greek  pronunciation  into  all  the  schools  of  the 
French  republic. 

This  petition  of  German  residents  to  the  Em- 
peror is  not  in  harmony  with  the  dignity  of  the 
science  of  philology.  Since  the  German  philol- 
ogists are  convinced  that  the  Erasmian  pronun- 
ciation is  wrong,  they  must  not  teach  it  any 
longer.  Schools  which  pretend  to  give  scientific 
instruction  should  not  teach  something  which 
confessedly  is  unscientific  and  false.  As  a  rule 
they  do  not  do  so ;  they  do  not  teach  other  liv- 
ing languages  with  an  invented  pronunciation. 
In  regard  to  really  dead  languages,  such  as 
Hebrew  and  Latin,  all  schools  in  the  world,  with 
the  exception  of  some  English,  follow  a  pronun- 
ciation which  is  based  on  tradition:  for  Hebrew, 
through  the  Portuguese  Jews;  for  Latin, 
through  the  Italians.  Only  with  Greek,  schools 
make  an  exception.  As  to  Greek,  the  existence 
of  a  pronunciation,  the  correctness  of  which  can 
be  traced  through  exactly  twenty-six  hundred 
years,  should  be  the  greatest  inducement  to 
bring  the  school  instruction  in  close  relation  to 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     57 

practical  life,  so  that  the  students  could  make 
practical  use  of  the  language.  Unfortunately, 
schoolmasters  are  opposed  to  this  view,  their 
argument    being:    non  vitce,  sed  scholcs    discimus! 

Engel  says :  "  The  corner-stone  of  the  Eras- 
mian  pronunciation  is  the  idea  'it  exists,'  that  is, 
state  and  city  pay  us  to  teach  it.  Some  day 
when  a  minister  of  instruction  orders  it,  we  shall 
teach  another  pronunciation,  and  shall,  when 
ordered  to  do  so,  prove  that  this  new  one  and 
no  other  is  correct."  Such  state  of  things  is  not 
creditable  to  the  philologists.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that,  as  it  is  practicable  and  as  soon  as  the 
professors  have  familiarized  themselves  with 
living  Greek,  Erasmian  pronunciation  will  no 
longer  be  taught  in  any  school. 

When  Greeks  hear  the  Erasmian  pronuncia- 
tion of  their  language  they  cannot  help  laugh- 
ing. Doctor  Engel,  while  travelling  in  Greece, 
one  day  visited  a  school,  and  was  delighted  to 
observe  with  how  much  facility  the  boys  read 
Demosthenes  and  Homer.  He  himself  was  asked 
to  read  before  the  class  some  Greek  verses  with 
the  pronunciation  as  employed  in  German  col- 
leges. The  Greek  boys,  while  he  was  reading 
from  the  Iliad,  did  not  know  what  to  say  at  first, 
as  they  were  under  the  impression  he  was  read- 


58       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

ing  German;  but  when  they  were  given  to  un- 
derstand that  it  should  represent  Greek,  they 
burst  into  laughter,  stamping  with  their  feet, 
screaming  and  uttering  cat-calls,  and  the  prin- 
cipal himself  could  not  help  joining  in  the  gen- 
eral hilarity.  Any  one  can  try  the  experiment 
of  creating  fun  among  Greeks  by  speaking  to 
them  of  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam. 

We  can  easily  understand  this  hilarity  when 
we  learn  how  a  Frenchman,  who  had  long 
studied  English  and  was  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  literature,  but  had  never  become  fami- 
liar with  the  sound  of  the  language,  read  Tenny- 
son's "Claribel" : 

"At  ev  ze  little  bommess 
Az  vart  ze  zeenet  Ion, 
At  none  ze  veld  be  ommess 
Aboot  ze  most  eldston 
At  meednees  ze  mon  commess 
An  lokes  doon  alon 
Ere  songz  ze  lint  veet  svelless 
Ze  clirvoiced  mari  dvelless 
Ze  slombvoos  var  ootvelless 
Ze  babblang  ronnel  creepess 
Ze  ollor  grot  replee — ess 
Vere  Claribel  lovelee— ess." 

Nobody  has  ever  asserted  that  Greek  pronun- 
ciation has  remained  unchanged  from  the  time 
of  Kadmus  until  now.  This  would  be  a  unique 
phenomenon.     In  the  course  of  time  the  pronun- 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     $9 

elation  of  every  language  changes  in  correspond- 
ence to  the  change  in  the  language  itself.  It  is 
not  probable  that  the  pronunciation  has  changed 
during  the  same  space  of  time  more  than  the 
language  itself.  Classic  Greek  was  a  well- 
sounding  language;  we  know  this  through  the 
Greeks  themselves,  as  well  as  through  the 
Romans.  The  Greek  of  to-day  still  belongs  to 
the  most  melodious  of  languages,  its  pronuncia- 
tion gives  a  beautiful  and  pure  harmony. 

In  the  foregoing  remarks  on  the  pronunciation 
of  Greek  enough  has  been  said  to  convince  us 
that  a  reform  of  instruction  in  regard  to  pronun- 
ciation is  an  absolute  necessity.  In  former 
times,  before  steam  and  electricity  facilitated 
travelling,  scholars  might  have  given  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  this  wrong  pronunciation,  which  could 
not  serve  in  personal  intercourse  with  Greeks, 
that  they  did  not  expect  to  meet  Greeks.  If 
this  could  have  been  an  excuse  once,  it  cannot 
serve  as  such  any  longer.  The  number  of 
archaeologists  and  philologists  who  visit  Greece 
is  increasing  all  the  time.  The  opportunity  to 
learn  the  living  Greek  should  not  be  denied 
even  to  those  who  cannot  enjoy  the  good  fortune 
to  visit  Greece.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
beautiful   Greek   language    should    be    tortured 


6o      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

hereafter  in  the  Erasmian  fashion.  //  is  to  be 
hoped  that  now,  when  the  inscriptions  can  be  studied 
by  anybody,  zvhen  the  history  of  Greece  and  of  its 
entire  language  is  better  known,  when  there  can  be 
no  more  learned  defence  of  Erasmian  pronunciation, 
this  pronunciation  will  be  considered,  as  it  should  be, 
a  jnonstrosity.  It  is  high  time  that  our  learning 
and  studying  youth  be  saved  the  useless  torture 
of  the  mind,  their  parents  the  useless  expense, 
and  citizens  generally  the  unnecessary  taxation 
for  schools  teaching  unscientific  pronunciation. 

Modern  or  living  Greek,  the  literary  language 
understood  by  all  Greeks  of  to-day,  is  but  Attic 
simplified  and  complemented  by  additional  ele- 
ments taken  from  the  old  dialects  or  formed  in 
strict  conformit)^  with  the  old  forms.  Neither 
the  language  nor  the  pronunciation  has  changed 
materially  these  two  thousand  years.  We  have 
conclusive  evidence  from  history  that  the  lan- 
guage did  not,  and  why  it  did  not  change. 
From  the  inscriptions,  which,  as  a  rule,  were 
spelled  phonetically,  we  know  exactly  how 
Greek  was  pronounced  in  all  the  centuries  since 
the  seventh  B.C.  The  orthographic  errors,  the 
bad  spelling  found  on  inscriptions  and  in  hand- 
writings of  the  Greeks  from  the  time  of  the 
seventh  century  B.C.  through  all  the  centuries 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     6 1 

are  an  excellent  means  of  showing  us  how  the 
different  written  sounds  were  pronounced  in 
different  centuries.  The  result  of  the  study  of 
the  inscriptions  has  given  conclusive  evidence 
that  the  peculiarity  of  the  pronunciation  of  the 
Greek  vowels  can  be  traced  back  as  far  at  least 
as  the  fourth  century  B.C. 

The  accentuation  is  one  of  the  great  beauties 
of  the  Greek  language,  and  the  rules  bearing 
upon  it  have  been  considered  as  sacred,  and 
have  not  been  changed  these  two  thousand 
years.  Accentuation  is  first  mentioned  in 
Plato's  Kratylos  (399  B.C.),  where  he  says: 
"  Often  we  change  the  accent,  and  instead  of  the 
acute   we    pronounce    the   grave."      FloXXaxtg   ra? 

o^urrjTa?  iisraj^dXAo/jLev,  xai    dvrt  S^eta?  ^apelav    ^^dey^d/isOa, 

Demosthenes,  in  his  oration  ITspl  <TTe<pdvov  called 
^schines  a  [Mffdwrov,  but  had  accentuated  the 
word  erroneously,  namely,  fxiffdwrov,  whereupon 
the  audience  corrected  him  by  crying  ixiffdotzov. 

The  people  of  Athens  in  those  times  had  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  correct  accentuation,  al- 
though no  signs  for  it  were  then  in  use.  Every- 
body knew  how  his  native  tongue  had  to  be 
accentuated. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  Aristophanes,  in 
the  second  half  of  the   third  century  B.C.,  in- 


62       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

vented  the  accents,  but  closer  research  has 
shown  that  even  in  the  time  of  Aristotle  (fourth 
century  B.C.)  some  manuscripts  were  accen- 
tuated. Thus,  Aristophanes  was  not  the  in- 
ventor of  accentuation,  merely  the  one  who 
introduced  it.  His  disciple,  Aristarch,  in  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  wrote  explicit 
rules  to  be  observed  in  written  accentuation. 

It  is  established  that  even  at  the  time  of  Aris- 
totle the  spiritus  asper  (57  8a(Tsia)  was  no  longer 
pronounced;  that  it  existed  only  in  writing,  and 
ever  since  it  has  not  been  pronounced  except 
by  the  Erasmians.  No  Greek,  unless  he  has 
learned  other  languages,  has  any  idea  of  our  "  h." 
Wherever  it  occurs  in  a  foreign  name,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  German  Hans,  he  writes  not  ^Jv?,  but 

Writers  on  the  accentuation  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage are  known  from  nearly  all  centuries,  from 
the  third  B.C.  to  the  seventh  of  the  Christian 
era,  from  the  ninth  and  tenth,  from  the  twelfth, 
and  all  the  following,  up  to  our  own.  In  all  the 
works  of  such  authors  of  these  two  thousand 
years,  the  rules  of  accentuation,  the  rules  which 
the  Greeks  have  observed  from  generation  to 
generation,  are  given.  The  Greeks  of  to-day  and 
of  all  the  intervening  times  accentuate  the  words 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     63 

in  the  literary  language  the  same  as  did  their 
ancestors  of  the  classical  period.  It  is  a  mis- 
representation, one  of  the  inventions  of  some 
followers  of  Erasmus,  to  say  that  the  Greeks  of 
to-day  have  lost  the  old  accentuation.  If  such 
were  the  case,  would  it  not  be  probable  that  the 
change  would  have  differed  in  various  parts  of 
Greece;  if,  for  instance,  the  accentuation  had 
been  corrupted  through  the  invasion  of  the  Ro- 
mans, Huns,  Avanes,  Slavs,  Franks,  and  Turks? 
Manifold  accentuation,  however,  never  has  ex- 
isted; the  educated  Greeks  of  to-day,  wherever 
they  live,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  pronounce 
the  words  of  their  language  according  to  rules 
which  have  stood  the  test  of  two  thousand  years. 
The  Erasmian  assertion  of  the  loss  of  the  old 
accentuation  is  one  of  those  misstatements  which 
contain  a  particle  of  truth  and  are  therefore  the 
more  dangerous,  the  more  deceiving.  It  is  true 
that  some  words  in  the  irregular,  the  people's, 
language  are  accentuated  differently ;  but  this  is 
nothing  new.  Similar  deviations  existed  in  the 
oldest  times.  Thus,  even  the  people's  language 
has  made  no  change  in  this  regard. 

At  the  time  of  Demosthenes,  words  in  prose 
were  pronounced  according  to  accentuation,  not 
according   to   metric   quality.      That   such    was 


64       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

also  the  case  prior  to  Demosthenes'  day  can  be 
shown  by  Hephastio,  who  says  of  the  comic 
actors  that  they,  in  imitating  life,  spoke  accord- 
ing to  accentuation,  not  metrically  rov  ^^p  ^^^^^  '^^^'^^ 

fitfioufxeuot   diXoofft   dtaXsXo[xi'^(o<s   diakiyeiv ^  xat  fii)    k[j.[iirp(o<s. 

If,  then,  the  comic  actors,  in  imitation  of  every- 
day life,  did  speak  verses — poetry — as  people 
spoke  in  every-day  life,  it  is  evident  that  people 
did  not  speak  metrically,  but  according  to  accen- 
tuation, as  they  do  to-day. 

Of  late  we  have  had  two  societies  of  learned 
and  prominent  men  who  have  worked  with  great 
zeal  for  the  encouragement  of  the  study  of  the 
living  Greek  with  a  view  to  have  it  adopted  as 
the  universal  language  of  scholars.  The  first  of 
these  societies  was  founded  by  Gustave  d'Eich- 
thal,  a  Philhellenist  with  the  zeal  and  soul  of 
Byron,  in  the  year  1867,  for  the  study  and  practi- 
cal use  of  Greek  in  France.  The  transactions 
and  the  other  publications  of  the  members  of  this 
society  were  collected  in  Gustave  d'Eichthal's 
work,  printed  in  Paris  in  1887.  Among  the 
members  were  the  Marquis  de  Saint-Hilaire,  M. 
Renieri,  Nefftzer,  Fr.  Dlibner,  A.  Campeaux, 
E.  Littre,  Ch,  Mendelssohn-Bartholdi,  Robert 
Blackie,  I.  N.  Valettas,  Baudry,  Louis  Mallet, 
Basiadis,   and    last  but   not   least,    D.    Bikelas. 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     6$ 

Whatever  could  be  said  in  elegant  form  in  favor 
of  Greek  as  the  best  international  language  for 
scholars,  has  been  said  and  written  by  these 
eminent  men  of  learning,  by  men  who  were  ac- 
complished scholars,  both  of  classical  and  living 
Greek. 

Gustave  d'Eichthal  died  April  9th,  1886,  at 
Paris.  He  had  not  seen  the  result  of  his  unselfish 
labors,  which  he  had  longed  for  so  ardently. 
Greek  had  not  yet  become  the  universal  lan- 
guage. The  valiant  leaders  of  the  Greek  move- 
ment were  admired,  but  although  there  had 
been  official  recognition  and  approval  by  the 
French  Minister  of  Instruction  of  the  aims  of 
Gustave  d'Eichthal  and  his  co-laborers,  no  prac- 
tical progress  had  been  accomplished.  Mean- 
while a  German,  August  Boltz,  had  published  a 
book,  entitled  "  Greek  the  General  Language  of 
the  Future  for  vScholars,"  which  infused  new  life 
into  the  question  of  the  study  of  living  Greek, 
and  in  the  year  1886  another  German,  Dr. 
Eduard  Engel,  whom  I  have  quoted  extensively 
in  this  paper,  commenced  to  write  against  the 
methods  of  instruction  in  Greek  prevailing  in 
German  schools.  In  most  powerful  style  he  ex- 
posed the  old  fogyism,  and  a  new  movement  in 
favor   of  living  Greek  followed.      In   the   year 


66      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

1889  an  international  Philhellenic  society  was 
called  into  existence  in  Amsterdam,  and  men  of 
the  highest  ranks  of  life,  princes  who  had  dis- 
tinguished themselves  as  Greek  scholars,  cele- 
brated writers,  men  of  learning  from  all  parts  of 
the  civilized  world  became  members  to  the 
number  of  five  hundred.  This  body  of  Philhel- 
lenists  published  a  quarterly  review  entitled 
'EXXd^y  for  the  propagation  of  the  ideas  of  the 
society.  The  articles  published  in  this  organ 
treat  on  philological  studies,  on  the  solution  of 
the  question  of  the  true  pronunciation,  and  give 
encouragement  to  the  study  of  the  living  Greek 
in  order  that  it  may  serve  as  an  international 
language.  The  idea  to  make  Greek  the  uni- 
versal language  of  scholars  will  remain  the  order 
of  the  day  and  will  be  realized  sooner  or  later. 

Thus  far  the  outcome  of  the  noble  labors  of 
d'Eichthal  and  his  followers  has  been  the  intro- 
duction of  living  Greek  pronunciation  in  the 
French  schools.  As  soon  as  this  act  of  the  Gov- 
ernment had  been  proclaimed,  I  received  many 
letters  from  my  Greek  friends  in  Paris  and  in 
Athens.  One  of  them  was  from  Professor  Spiri-^ 
dis,  who  had  been  most  active  among  those  who 
had  written  and  spoken  to  bring  about  this  happy 
result.     He  wrote  to  me  under  date  of  Marcli 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     6^ 

27th,  1896,  from  Athens:  "Dear  Doctor: — The 
endless  debates  on  the  pronunciation  of  Greek  in 
the  French  schools  are  closed,  and  the  historical 
truth  has  at  last  triumphed.  The  old  prejudices 
have  all  vanished.  We  are  victorious.  Other 
people  will  follow  the  lead  of  France."  In 
Princeton  University  there  is  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  the  true  pronunciation  of  the  Greek 
as  a  living  language.  Besides  Princeton,  we 
have  a  number  of  other  colleges  in  this  coun- 
try in  which  Greek  is  taught  as  a  living  lan- 
guage with  its  true  pronunciation:  namely, 
MacAlester  College,  St.  Paul,  Minn. ;  Western 
University,  Wooster,  Ohio;  the  University  of 
Colorado,  Boulder,  Col. ;  Emory  College,  Ox- 
ford, Ga. ;  Colby  University,  Waterville,  Me. ; 
Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. ;  Swarthmore 
College,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

The  living  Greek  is  a  language  remarkable 
in  every  respect.  There  is  nothing  wanting  to 
constitute  it  the  most  beautiful  language  of 
Europe.  It  is,  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt, 
the  most  perfect.  Greece  has  excellent  writers 
at  the  present  time,  although  it  is  only  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  since  she  became  again  a 
free  and  independent  nation.  There  exists  a 
large  number  of  poets  since  the  national  resur- 


68       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

rection,  and  there  are  a  genius  and  creative  power 
in  their  productions  which  foreign  critics  have 
not  yet  detected,  owing  to  the  comparatively  in- 
sufficient knowledge  of  modern  Greek.  Lyri- 
cism is  the  chief  characteristic  of  that  poetry,  but 
Alexander  Rangabes  and  his  son  Kleon  wrote 
besides  very  good  dramas.  The  poems  of  Atha- 
nasias  Christopoulos  compare  favorably  with 
Anacreon's.  Political  satire  is  successfully  em- 
ployed in  poetry  by  Alexander  Soutsos,  while 
the  poetry  of  Dimitri  Paparegopoulos  and  Spi- 
ridion  Vassiliades  is  remarkable  for  its  social  as- 
pirations and  affinity  with  the  genius  of  Eurip- 
ides. Elias  Tantalides,  an  exquisite  singer  of 
natural  beauty,  though  blind,  and  George  Zalos- 
kostas,  an  artist  in  love  lyrics,  are  very  popular, 
while  the  poetry  of  Vizyenos  shows  many  of  the 
undefined  longings  of  Shelley.  Dionysius 
Solomos'  celebrated  "Ode  to  Liberty"  has  been 
translated  into  most  languages.  Aristoteles 
Valaoritis  is  known  for  his  almost  ^schylan  so- 
lemnity. George  Joures,  the  most  remarkable  of 
contemporary  Greeks,  is  a  second  Aristophanes, 
with  a  strong  Shakespearian  vein,  and  shows  con- 
siderable resemblance  to  Chaucer's  tenderness 
of  disposition.  The  most  popular  of  all  Greek 
writers  of  the  present   day,  a  historian   and   a 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     69 

poet,  is  Dimitrius  Bikelas.  His  "  Loukis  Larras" 
is  one  of  the  best  novels  of  our  time,  and  has 
been  printed  in  elegant  editions  and  translated  in- 
to many  languages.  Next  to  this  masterpiece  are 
his  stories,  known  and  translated  into  several  lan- 
guages. D.  Bikelas  translated  several  of  Shake- 
speare's dramas  into  Greek  in  a  masterly  man- 
ner. His  translation  of  Andersen ' s  Fairy  Tales  is 
so  beautiful  that  we  are  in  doubt  in  which  form 
we  like  it  better — in  the  original  or  in  this  Greek 
translation. 

The  glory  and  prosperity  of  Greece  are  things 
of  the  future,  not  alone  of  the  past.  They  are 
to  come  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  and 
not  by  the  vain  attempt  of  a  return  to  the  past. 

The  beautiful,  like  the  Greek  language,  is  like 
sunshine  upon  this  world:  the  beautiful  lives 
forever ! 

REMARKS  AT  THE  LECTURE  OF  DR.  A.  ROSE. 
BY  PROF.  S.  STANHOPE  ORRIS,  PRINCETON 
UNIVERSITY 

A  few  years  ago,  a  vigorous  attack  was  made 
upon  the  required  study  of  the  Greek  language 
as  a  condition  of  an  academic  degree.  The  at- 
tack was  made  presumably  on  the  ground  that 


yo      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  results  of  the  study  when  viewed  in  a  prac- 
tical light  appeared  small  and  unsatisfactory — 
too  small  for  the  time  devoted  to  it.  If,  indeed, 
the  attack  had  been  made,  not  upon  the  study  of 
the  language,  but  upon  the  method  by  which  the 
language  has  been  taught  and  studied  in  our 
schools,  it  would  have  been  a  just  attack  and 
might  have  resulted  in  greater  good.  But  there 
is  something  better  than  the  visible  and  tan- 
gible, the  outward  and  the  perishable.  And  the 
Greek  language,  with  the  immortal  literature 
which  it  enshrines,  has  been  prized  and  cher- 
ished most  for  its  power  to  discipline  the  mind, 
to  purify  the  intellectual  vision,  to  liberate,  re- 
fine, enrich,  and  ennoble  the  inward  man,  the 
immortal  man.  But  in  order  that  this  dis- 
cipline, refinement,  culture,  mental  wealth  may 
be  attained  in  the  highest  degree,  the  language 
must  be  acquired  as  a  living  language  and  made 
a  part  of  the  individual  being  so  that  it  shall  be 
a  perennial  source  of  life  and  strength  and  shall 
make  the  man  once  more  a  man  forever. 

Born  as  we  are,  heirs  to  but  a  single  tongue, 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  when  we  acquire  a 
foreign  tongue — the  Greek,  for  instance — as  it  is 
acquired  in  our  schools,  the  first  degree  of  the 
mastery  of  the  language  consists  in  the  ability  to 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     /I 

translate  it  by  means  of  a  grammar  and  lexicon 
into  the  English.  Another  degree  of  mastery- 
consists  in  the  ability  to  translate  the  English  by 
means  of  a  grammar  and  lexicon  into  the  Greek. 
A  higher  degree  of  mastery,  which  is  not  at- 
tained because  it  is  not  sought,  consists  in  the 
ability  to  take  the  language  in  through  the  ear, 
to  understand  it  when  we  hear  it  spoken.  The 
highest  degree  of  mastery  consists  in  the  power 
to  think  in  it  and  feel  in  it,  and  to  speak  it  with 
ease  and  without  friction. 

And  the  degree  of  the  discipline  which  a 
study  imparts  is  in  the  direct  ratio  of  the  degree 
of  the  mastery  of  that  study. 

The  highest  mastery,  therefore,  is  the  highest 
discipline.  If,  then,  we  would  attain  the  high- 
est discipline  which  the  Greek  language  with  its 
wealth  of  literature  may  be  made  to  yield,  we 
must  acquire  it  as  a  living  language  by  living 
methods.  And  if  we  would  be  practical  and 
would  acquire  it  as  a  modern  tongue  for  practical 
purposes,  we  must  yet  acquire  it  as  a  living  lan- 
guage by  living  methods.  And  the  first  step  in 
the  direction  of  such  an  acquisition  is  to  put  our- 
selves in  relations  with  it  as  a  living  language, 
to  accept  it  as  a  living  language,  meant  first  for 
the  ear,  not  for  the  eye ;  to  pronounce  it  as  the 


72       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

living  Greeks  themselves  to-day  pronounce  it, 
and  to  converse  in  it  until  the  ear  becomes 
accustomed  to  it  and  the  mind  through  the  ear 
takes  hold  of  it  and  makes  it  a  possession  for- 
ever. 

And  reasons  why  we  should  pronounce  it  as  it 
is  pronounced  in  the  land  where  it  has  ever 
lived  and  still  lives  in  the  freshness  and  beauty 
of  immortal  youth  are  given  by  the  learned  and 
enthusiastic  Dr.  Rose,  to  whom  all  friends  and 
lovers  of  Greek  owe  a  debt  of  genuine  and  last- 
ing gratitude. 

REMARKS   BY    HON.    D.    N.    BOTASSI,    CONSUL    GEN- 
ERAL  OF   GREECE. 

After  the  admirable  and  exhaustive  paper 
which  my  learned  friend,  Dr.  Rose,  read  before 
you,  it  would  be  a  presumption  on  my  part  to 
try  and  add  anything,  at  least  to  the  literary 
side,  so  I  will  limit  myself  to  a  few  general 
remarks. 

When  Erasmus  published  his  famous  treatise 
in  1528,  Greece  was  simply  a  geographical  de- 
nomination, a  Turkish  province  in  fact,  having 
been  conquered  by  the  Turks  ten  years  after  the 
fall   of    Constantinople,    which,    as    you   know. 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     73 

occurred  in  the  year  1453.  Few  people  then 
paid  any  attention  how  Greek  was  pronounced  in 
that  Turkish  province  called  Greece,  which  had 
changed  masters  so  many  times,  having  been 
under  the  Romans,  Franks,  Venetians.,  and  the 
Turks. 

Greek  was  considered  then  a  dead  language, 
like  the  Latin  and  Hebrew,  and  the  savants 
from  that  time  on  adopted  unhesitatingly  the 
Erasmian  pronunciation  as  the  correct  one. 

But  the  Greek  Revolution  of  1821,  which 
ended  in  the  establishment  of  the  present  Greek 
kingdom  in  1830,  put  a  new  aspect  on  the  exist- 
ing state  of  things.  It  was  almost  a  revelation ! 
Old  Hellas  rose  from  her  ashes  like  the  phoenix 
of  mythology,  with  Athens  for  her  capital, 
with  her  cities  called  Pirseus,  Sparta,  Corinth, 
and  Pylos,  as  of  old,  with  her  Marathon  and 
Salamis,  with  her  Acropolis  and  its  immortal 
Parthenon. 

The  Greek  language  was  preserved  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  in  that  extreme  corner  of 
Southern  Europe  chiefly  through  the  Greek 
church.  The  Turks,  fortunately  for  the  Greeks, 
left  public  worship  free,  and  the  reading  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  liturgies  of  St.  Basil 
and  of  St.   John  Chrysostom   were  heard  every 


^4       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

Sunday  from  one  end  of  Greece  to  the  other  in 
their  original  purity. 

With  the  establishment  of  schools  and  colleges 
the  people's  vernacular  was  gradually  purified 
from  the  intermixture  of  foreign  words,  and 
now  the  language  of  the  Athenian  newspapers 
and  of  the  government  despatches  differs  very 
little  from  the  language  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  is,  as  you  know,  ancient  Greek  in  a  sim- 
plified form,  commonly  called  the  Alexandrine 
Greek. 

This  is  a  wonderful  achievement  in  sixty-five 
years,  which  is  the  length  of  the  political  life  of 
Greece.  Modern  Greek  is  nothing  else  but 
ancient  Greek  in  a  modified  form.  The  orthog- 
raphy, accents,  aspirants,  etc.,  are  absolutely 
like  the  old  Greek.  It  is  now  a  complete  lan- 
guage for  the  conveyance  of  human  thought, 
and  we  have  at  present  many  prose  writers  and 
poets  who  have  acquired  a  European  reputation. 
You  would  be  astonished  to  hear  how  pleasantly 
it  sounds  to  one's  ears,  to  hear  the  song  of  Hia- 
watha translated  into  modern  Greek,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  like  "  King 
Lear,"  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  and  "Hamlet." 

Modern  Greek  is  now  spoken  by  ten  millions 
of  people,  for,  besides  the  present  Greek  king- 


PROPER  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GREEK.     75 

dom,  numbering  over  two  and  a  half  millions, 
Greek  is  extensively  spoken  in  European 
Turkey,  Bulgaria,  Servia,  Roumania,  Southern 
Russia,  through  all  the  northern  coast  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  thence  from  Trebizonde  and  Sin- 
ope  to  Constantinople  and  down  to  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor,  the  ancient  Ionia,  from  Smyrna 
down  to  Beyrout  and  Alexandria.  One  can 
travel  through  all  those  countries  to-day  and  get 
along  very  well  if  he  knows  no  other  language 
than  modern  Greek.  It  is  absurd,  therefore,  to 
call  a  language  spoken  by  over  ten  millions  of 
Greeks  a  dead  language,  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
deep  regret  that,  owing  to  the  prevailing  Eras- 
mian  pronunciation  in  your  colleges,  your  young 
men  cannot  ask  for  a  glass  of  water  and  be 
understood  in  Athens,  although  they  spent 
many  years  of  their  life  in  learning  Greek  in 
America. 

I  will  not  detain  you  any  longer.  Dr.  Rose 
brought  the  strongest  argument  to  prove  why 
the  modern  Greek  pronunciation  should  be  uni- 
versally adopted  in  America.  I  will  finish  my 
remarks  with  a  recitation  of  a  few  verses  from 
the  heroic  poem  of  one  of  our  celebrated  modern 
poets,  Alexander  Soutzo,  called  o  llspmXa^xbiievo^, 
viz.:  "The  Wanderer." 


76      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

Xcjpa  fieyahxpvtag ;  elg  rovg  kSXttov^  gov  to  ndlai 
'i2  narpig  fiov^  al  Idiai  avejSXdaravov  jueydXac^ 
Kal  TvpawoKrdvov  ^L(poq  KpvKTovreg  elg  rag  fivpcivag 
01  '  kpfiddiOL  dvopdow  iaovdnovg  rag  'ABijvag. 
'  ATJhore  deol  hndrow  rd  hdd(^rj  aov  Kal  deiav 
"Ewf  OT/fiepov  r)  yi)  aov  dvadidei  evuSiav 

Kal  1^  ah  pa  rov  Ze^vpov 
'i'tdvpi^ei  r^v  dpxaiav  fieloidiav  rov  'Ofiijpov. 

A?;(j  e^epe  uoxOovaa  Tiyavrag  rfjg  yfjg  rj  (j(j)alpa, 
Kal  To)v  di'O)  oi  alibveg  ae  KtjpvTTovaL  (iijTEpa. 
YtTpaTTiTudTTig  rov  'EA/l^v^v  IkSikcjv  rov  Mapadibva 
0  'ATie^avdpog  ela^We  viKT/r^g  elg  Ba(3v?io)va. 
Aier^pet  alfiardg  gov  elg  rag  <j)Mj3ag  rov  pavida^ 
'0  KopGCKavbg  6  ex(^v  to  Tav  yerov  narpida 

Kal  eig  fiiav  p.6vT)V  upav 
Ttjv  yijv  Tzai^ag^  ttjv  y^v  X0'^<''^  ^^f  '''ov  Bareplo)  Tr)v  ;^;cjpav. 

'AAA'  6  TrpuTog  dyaTruv  gc  Kal  ttjv  66^av  rov  'EAA^vwv 
Tiepav  Tov  'Ivdov  Kal  Tdyyov  fJ.ixP'-  T^POttikov  £/cre/vwv, 
'ATze^icjae  fiovdpxvQ  i^oX  cig  rov  ttoM/liov  "Xeiav 
Miav  IduKtv  elg  Ttdvra  Grpar^ybv  rov  (Saaileiav. 
'0  6e  devrepog  fiiotjv  gs  Kal  rov  ddo^ov  ^ovXrdvov 
'ETTiar^i&v  TOV  ^'ikov  dvrl  gov  irapaXafx^dviJV 

Aeofiiog  elg  vrjaov  ^evrjv^ 
dkeofiiog  elg  ryv  'Ay tav  ereMvrrfGev  'EA^v^.    .    .  . 

William  J.  Seelye,  Professor  of  Greek,  Wooster 
University,  Ohio,  lectured  on  the  same  subject, 
the  Pronunciation  of  Greek,  almost  simultane- 
ously with  me.  I  saw  his  excellent  scholarly 
paper,  which  is  published  in  the  transactions  of 
College  Association  of  Ohio  for  1896,  only  when 
my  book  was  partly  in  type. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   BYZANTINES.* 

The  Byzantine  Empire,  otherwise  called  the 
East  Roman,  the  Romaic,  the  Oriental,  the 
Greek  Empire,  was  created  when  Theodosius 
the  Great,  before  his  death  in  395,  divided  the 
Roman  Empire  between  his  two  sons. 

In  the  first  days  of  September,  476,  the  Occi- 
dental empire  of  the  Romans  ceased  to  be. 

When  the  Roman  Empire  was  dying  out,  it 
had  the  good  fortune  to  be  absorbed  in  the  life 
of  Greece,  and  it  derived  from  that  union  a  re- 
newed energy  which  secured  for  it  another  mil- 
lennium of  existence. 

The  absorption  of  the  Roman  into  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire  was  a  blessing  to  civilization  and  to 
mankind. 

The  conquests  of  Philip  and  Alexander  the 
Great  had  had  the  effect  of  widely  extending 
Hellenism  throughout  the  East.     This  extension 

*  Lecture  delivered  before  the  Society  for  Literary  Knowl- 
edge, New  York,  in  March,  1897. 


yS       CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

received  a  new  impulse  from  the  unity  of  the 
government  of  the  new — that  is,  the  Byzantine 
— Roman  Empire  over  the  whole  civilized 
world.  Then  came  Christianity,  which  bor- 
rowed from  Hellenism  its  language,  and  also 
contributed  to  spread  the  influence  of  Greek 
letters  and  Greek  culture  beyond  the  limits 
which  geography  would  have  assigned.  In  the 
end  the  Greek  language  was  spoken  as  far  as  the 
Danube  on  the  north  and  Armenia  and  the  Eu- 
phratus  on  the  east;  and  all  these  Greek-speak- 
ing countries  gradually  united  into  a  sort  of  a 
mixed  world,  which  constituted  the  Byzantine 
Empire. 

Until  recently  the  Byzantine  era  was  the  least 
known  and  the  most  obscure  in  the  field  of  his- 
torical study.  When  the  Greeks,  by  a  heroic 
struggle  lasting  seven  years  (from  1821  to  1828), 
had  regained  their  independence  from  Turkish 
bondage  they  received  the  full  and  enthusiastic 
sympathy  of  the  civilized  world. 

Nevertheless,  the  history  of  the  Byzantines, 
of  their  Greek  and  Christian  state  of  over  a 
thousand  years  of  existence,  was  still  treated 
with  great  injustice,  exaggerated  severity,  and 
contempt. 

To   the    popular   imagination    the   Byzantine 


THE   BYZANTINES.  79 

Empire  appeared  as  a  political  monstrosity  in 
which  one  incapable  emperor  succeeded  another, 
each  putting  out  the  eyes  of  his  predecessor,  an 
empire  in  which  romantic  scenes  of  bloodshed, 
barbarous  cruelty,  and  stormy  disputes  over 
dogmatic  questions  were  the  rule. 

The  hatred  toward  the  Greeks,  who,  as  the  out- 
post of  Christendom,  have  been  fighting  the 
battle  of  civilization  against  the  world  of  bar- 
barism, and  hav€  succumbed  only  after  a  heroic 
resistance  of  a  thousand  years,  has  its  source  in 
religious  dissensions,  and  has  been  taken  up  by 
ignoramuses  who  took  no  interest  even  in  ques- 
tions of  religion. 

The  empire  of  the  East  fell  four  hundred 
years  ago  and  was  thereby  silenced.  The  West 
survived,  and  until  recently  has  had  the  talk  all 
its  own  way.  It  has  used  the  opportunity  in  the 
full  spirit  of  the  rancor  which  already  animated 
it.  There  is  an  abundant  anti-Hellenic  litera- 
ture by  a  numerous  body  of  writers  who  during 
many  years  have  undertaken  to  enlighten  the 
European  public. 

National  intercourse,  which  is  characteristic 
of  our  time,  will  gradually  efface  the  traditions 
begotten  in  ignorance.  The  impartial  decisions 
of  the  latest  learned  and  critical  Western  writers 


8o      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

have  already  brought  a  great  deal  of  light  and 
justice. 

During  the  last  decade  no  part  of  history 
has  received  more  attention  than  the  Byzan- 
tine period.  Krumbacher's  Byzantinische  Zeit- 
schrift,  a  periodical  devoted  to  the  study  of  By- 
zantine history,  language,  literature,  and  art,  has 
reached  its  sixth  year.  The  six  volumes  contain 
contributions  from  the  pens  of  the  best  scholars, 
philologists,  archaeologists,  historians  of  all  the 
civilized  countries,  articles  and  communications 
in  German,  English,  French,  Italian,  and  Greek. 
The  scholars  of  the  different  countries  co-operate 
assiduously  to  enlighten  us,  to  do  justice  where 
there  had  been  a  tendency  to  do  injustice. 

Six  years  ago  Krumbacher,  A.  Ehrhard,  and 
H.  Gelzer  published  an  elaborate  work  on  the 
history  of  the  Byzantine  literature.  The  appear- 
ance of  a  second  edition  more  than  twice  as  large 
as  the  first  gives  evidence  that  researches  in  this 
direction  are  appreciated.  The  attention  of  the 
world  of  learning  is  again  directed  to  the  By- 
zantines in  order  to  vindicate  the  truth  and  ren- 
der tardy  justice  where  for  four  centuries  both 
had  been  denied. 

When  we  compare  the  history  of  the  Roman 
Empire  of  the  East  with  the  Roman  Empire  of 


THE  BYZANTINES.  8 1 

the  German  nation,  each  with  a  history  of  a 
thousand  years ;  when  we  see  what  influence  the 
Empire  of  the  East  had  on  the  Empire  of  the 
West,  and  which  influence  culminated  at  the 
period  of  the  Renaissance,  we  will  no  longer 
treat  the  history  of  the  Byzantines  with  contempt. 

The  history  of  the  Byzantines  is  one  of  un-l 
ceasing  and  unwearied  activity.  Christian  Con- 
stantinople, from  the  hour  of  her  foundation 
to  that  in  which  her  sun  finally  set  in  blood,  was 
engaged  in  constant  struggles  against  successive 
hordes  of  barbarians  and  foreign  adventurers. 

The  facts  that  the  old  monarchy  of  Constan- 
tine  and  of  Theodosius,  although  much  divided 
and  diminished,  resisted  the  repeated  attacks  of 
masses  of  Persians,  Bulgarians,  Slavs,  Arabians, 
Turks ;  that  it  rose  after  every  deep  humiliation ; 
that  it  withstood  the  severest  catastrophe — 
namely,  the  destruction  of  the  empire  by  the 
knights  of  the  fourth  crusade,  the  loss  of  the 
capital  at  the  Golden  Horn,  before  it  sank  under 
the  Osmans — these  remarkable  facts  should  in- 
cite us  to  familiarize  ourselves  with  the  true  his- 
tory of  an  empire  of  such  wonderful,  of  such 
exceptional  vitality. 

During  several  centuries  the  Byzantine  Em- 
pire could  more  than  once  be  compared  to  an 


82       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

immense  fortress  simultaneously  attacked  and 
besieged  from  all  sides.  Her  vast  borders — ex- 
tending from  the  Apennines  to  Jerusalem,  from 
the  Syrtes  to  the  mountainous  regions  of  Ar- 
menia— had  to  be  repeatedly  defended  against 
the  enemies  of  half  the  world. 

Within,  she  had  to  fight  heresy  after  heresy, 
but  succeeded  nevertheless  in  raising  the  edifice 
of  the  Church  upon  solid  and  enduring  founda- 
tions, and  at  the  same  time,  by  preserving  and 
completing  the  Roman  legislation,  she  estab- 
lished principles  of  jurisprudence  which  are  rec- 
ognized to-day  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

We  have  to  lay  great  stress  on  the  most  ex- 
traordinary significance  of  the  Byzantine  Em- 
pire: from  the  end  of  the  Roman  reign,  the 
Byzantines  were  the  heirs  and  preservers  of  a 
highly  developed  civilization  and  of  the  treasures 
of  antique  culture.  It  is  true  that  the  Byzantine 
literature  could  not  rival  the  productions  of 
earlier  ages,  but  it  preserved  none  the  less  the 
traditions  of  the  intellectual  splendor  of  Greece. 

The  time  when  the  Turkish  cannon  made  an 
opening  into  the  gigantic  walls  of  Constanti- 
nople corresponds  to  the  period  when  the  Wes- 
tern countries — thanks  to  the  Byzantines,  now 
strong   and  happy — developed   the  new  culture 


THE    BYZANTINES.  83 

and  gave  asylum  to  the  last  representatives  of 
Greek  learning. 

There  are  three  writers  especially  who  have 
done  a  great  deal  to  promulgate  error  and  injus- 
tice in  regard  to  Byzantine  history,  namely, 
Montesquieu,  Gibbon,  and,  to  a  limited  extent, 
Fallmerayer.  Since,  however,  historians  like 
Zinkeisen,  Finlay,  Ross,  Curtius,  Hopf,  and 
Mendelssohn-Bartholdi  have  made  scientific  re- 
searches, there  are  few,  and  there  should  be 
none,  who  will  form  a  judgment  upon  the  By- 
zantines, based  upon  no  other,  no  better,  no 
later  source  than  the  three  first-named  writers 
upon  the  history  of  mediaeval  Greece.  Still 
every  day  we  meet  people  who  have  by  tradition, 
without  personal  research  into  the  facts,  accepted 
the  most  absurd  ideas  about  the  Byzantines.  It 
is  on  account  of  such  people  that  it  may  appear 
proper  to  consider  the  writings  of  the  two  first- 
named  historians,  Montesquieu  and  Gibbon,  and 
later  on  to  speak  of  Fallmerayer. 

Montesquieu  treats  of  the  Roman  period  in  a 
masterly  manner;  the  subject  of  the  Byzantine 
epoch,  however,  is  beyond  his  depth ;  here  he  is 
superficial  and  prejudiced.  He  informs  us  in  a 
general  way  that  from  the  period  of  Phokas 
onward  the  history  of  the  Greek  Empire   is  a 


84      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

mere  tissue  of  rebellion,  conspiracy,  and  treach- 
ery. He  says :  "  The  emperors  were  led  by  the  \ 
nose  by  the  monks  and  priests,  who  became  all 
powerful  after  their  triumph  over  the  icono- 
clasts. ...  If  any  one  will  compare  the  Greek 
clergy  with  the  Latin  clergy,  and  the  conduct  of 
the  Popes  with  that  of  the  Patriarchs  of  Constan- 
tinople, he  will  see  on  the  one  side  men  as  wise 
as  those  on  the  other  side  were  silly."  These 
quotations  are  in  themselves  quite  enough.  As 
for  the  reasons  by  which  Montesquieu  proposes 
to  explain  the  fact  that  the  Byzantine  Empire 
lasted  for  more  than  a  millennium,  they  are 
simply  self -contradictory. 

The  history  of  an  empire  which  endured  for 
a  thousand  years  cannot  be  given  by  being 
crumpled  up  into  a  few  contemptuous  sentences, 
as  Montesquieu  has  done,  especially  not  when 
that  history  presents  complications  probably 
greater  than  those  of  any  other  empire. 

"  The  truth  is,"  says  Bikelas  (of  whose  lectures 
on  Christian  Greece,  delivered  at  the  Cercle  St. 
Simon  in  Paris  in  the  year  1885,  I  avail  myself 
to  some  extent  for  this  paper),  "that  it  has  been 
only  by  enveloping  the  shallowness  of  his  his- 
torical judgments  upon  Christian  and  imperial 
Constantinople  in  the  glittering  phantasmagoria 


THE   BYZANTINES.  8$ 

of  a  witty  style  and  an  audacious  dogmatism  that 
Montesquieu  has  succeeded  so  largely  in  induc- 
ing posterity  to  swallow  his  aphorisms.'* 

Gibbon  has  given  the  history  of  the  Byzan- 
tines in  a  monumental  work,  written  in  an  en- 
tirely partial  manner;  he  has  allowed  his  judg- 
ment to  be  biassed  by  his  prejudices,  and  has 
written  with  the  express  aim  and  object  of  pro- 
pounding and  supporting  his  own  preconceived 
ideas.  The  fundamental  principle  of  his  theory 
is  that  Christianity  was  the  cause  alike  of  the 
ruin  of  ancient  civilization,  of  the  decline  and 
fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  of  all  the  misery 
and  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Almost  on  every  page,  at  least  on  every  occa- 
sion, he  shows  his  hatred  toward  the  Greeks, 
which  goes  so  far  that  it  is  his  custom  to  qualify  j 
the  word  "  Greek"  by  some  depreciatory  adjec- 
tive. Altogether  Gibbon  has  written  history  as 
it  should  not  be  and  as  it  is  not,  as  a  rule,  written 
any  more.  However,  Gibbon's  theory  of  history 
is  but  one  instance  of  a  feature  which  is  only  too 
characteristic  of  the  English  mind.  Many  an 
act  of  the  English  people  toward  the  Greeks  can 
be  explained  by  the  same  trait. 

"The  Byzantine  Empire,"  says  Bikelas,  "was 
predestined  to  perform  in  particular  one  great 


S6      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

work  in  human  history:  that  work  was  to  pre- 
serve civilization  during  the  period  of  barbarism 
which  we  call  the  Middle  Ages.  For  the  per- 
formance of  that  work  no  abundant  originality 
was  needful.  The  mission  of  Christian  Con- 
stantinople was  not  to  create,  but  to  save;  and 
that  mission  she  fulfilled  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Europe  of  the  future.  It  is  not  just  on  the  part 
of  the  modern  world,  which  has  thus  profited 
thereby,  to  refuse  to  its  benefactors  the  tribute 
of  this  gratitude,  and  still  less  so  when  it  carica- 
tures history  in  order  to  lessen  the  apparent 
burden  of  its  indebtedness." 

The  first  fundamental  principle  is  that  the 
Byzantine  Empire  was  built  on  the  most  perfect 
centralization.  This  principle  of  the  Byzantines 
found  its  best  support  in  the  site,  and  thereby  in 
the  military  and  commercial  signifiance  of  the 
capital,  of  Constantinople.  The  history  of  nine 
centuries  from  Justinian  I.  to  the  entrance  of  Ma- 
homet II.  into  the  blood-soaked  streets  of  Byzan- 
tium shows  what  great  ideas  Constantine  had  in 
view  when  he  founded  his  new  residence.  Since 
the  day  on  which  he  transferred  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  Bosphorus  it  has  from  century  to 
century  become  more  apparent  what  wonderful 
offensive  and  defensive  strength  the  new  capital 


THE    BYZANTINES.  87 

could  develop  against  attacks,  and  what  great  ad- 
vantages its  site  offered  in  keeping  together  a 
reign  extending  into  three  continents.  Con- 
stantinople during  the  time  of  the  Byzantines 
until  the  days  of  terror  of  the  Prankish  conquest 
in  1204  was  a  marvellously  beautiful  city  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  powerful  military  strong- 
hold of  the  whole  Middle  Ages. 

Against  the  attacks  of  all  the  hordes  which 
the  Byzantines  had  to  fight  before  the  year  1204 
the  city  was  almost  invulnerable,  especially 
since  they  had  in  the  Greek  sea  fire  a  weapon 
of  most  terrific  effect.  This  fire  was  the  inven- 
tion of  a  Greek,  Kallinikos  of  Heliopolis.  It 
consisted  of  a  mixture  of  combustibles,  contain- 
ing naphtha,  sulphur,  pitch,  and  other  ingre- 
dients, which  burned  even  under  water.  When 
the  incendiary  ships  with  their  copper  cylinders 
containing  the  composition  for  the  destructive 
fire  came  near  to  the  battle-ships  of  the  enemy 
the  latter  was  overtaken  by  fright  and  fear. 
The  formula  of  the  composition  was  kept  a  state 
secret.  The  Byzantines  were  enabled  repeat- 
edly to  destroy  large  masses  of  enemies  under 
the  walls  of  their  capital,  and  thus  to  save  an 
empire  which  otherwise  would  have  been  lost. 

The  imperial  government   has   been  accused 


88       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

of  neglecting  material  interests.  It  is  not  his- 
tory alone,  however,  that  tells  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  Greek  world  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  matters  which  insure  the  well- 
being  of  a  state,  but  the  ruins  of  public  works, 
ruins  which  savagery  has  left,  show  us  that 
the  subjects  of  this  empire  had  no  ground 
for  casting  on  their  rulers  the  reproaches 
which  Western  European  writers  so  persist- 
ently repeat. 

The  history  of  nation?,  as  that  of  states,  as  a 
rule  represents  epochs  of  decadence  and  of 
greatness,  and  thus  it  is  with  the  Byzantines. 

For  us  Americans  it  is  especially  interesting 
to  study  the  history  of  a  state  which,  like  our 
own  republic,  was  not  built  upon  a  national 
basis.  The  empire  presented  since  Justinian  a 
multiform  mixture  of  different  Latin  and  Greek 
colonists  alongside  a  strong  body  of  real  Greeks ; 
in  addition  to  these  came  the  descendants  of  the 
old  Egyptians,  and  quite  imposing  numbers  of 
Semites  and  Berbers. 

Empress  Irene,  an  Athenian,  excepted,  we 
find,  until  the  end  of  the  Basilides — i.e,,  until  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century — Latin,  Asiatic, 
and  Graeco-Slavic  emperors  wielding  the  sceptre 
at  the  Golden  Horn.     Only  the  last  dynasties  of 


THE  BYZANTINES.  89 

the  Komnenes,  of  the  Dukas,  of  the  Angelos,  of 
the  Palseologi  were  real  Greeks. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  decline  of  the  Byzan- 
tine Empire  that  the  Byzantines  began  to  call 
themselves  Hellenes  and  their  monarchy  em- 
perors of  the  Hellenes.  Up  to  that  time  the 
autocrats  were  called  August!  and  the  subjects 
Romans.  This  custom  has  proved  so  deep- 
rooted  that  it  not  only  still  survives  as  the  uni- 
versal usage  of  the  East,  but  even  in  such 
writers  as  Byron  we  find  the  Hellenic  language 
termed  "Romaic."  At  the  same  time  the  in- 
habitants of  Hellas  proper  were  not  called  Hel- 
lenes but  Helladikoi,  and  the  ancient  and  glori- 
ous word  Hellene  was  employed  (by  usage  pos- 
sibly imitated  from  the  New  Testament)  in  a 
deprecatory  sense,  to  indicate  an  idolater. 

Constantinople  had  been  founded  not  as  a 
Greek,  but  as  a  Latin  city.  From  the  begin- 
ning, however,  Greeks  were  in  considerable 
numbers  among  the  inhabitants.  Greek  cities 
and  provinces  had  been  forced  to  give  a  great 
many  of  their  magnificent  works  of  art  to  orna- 
ment the  new  capital.  In  the  development  of 
the  empire  the  whole  population  assumed  a 
more  and  more  Greek  character.  Exactly  as  it 
is   to-day,  the   beautiful   city  on  the  Bosphorus 


90       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

with  its  gay  life,  a  place  where  wealth  could  be 
gained,  became  attractive  to  many  Greeks  from 
the  islands,  from  Asia  Minor,  from  Macedonia, 
from  Thessaly,  Epirus,  and  Achaia.  This  reg- 
ular immigration  increased  during  the  first  two 
centuries  of  its  existence  while  northern  bar- 
barians invaded  Greece  and  devastated  the  coun- 
try and  smaller  cities. 

History  shows  that,  in  relative  opposition  of 
the  Graecized  peoples  to  the  Greeks  of  the  old 
Greek  colonies,  and  all  Greeks  in  the  ethno- 
graphic sense  of  the  word,  the  genuine  Greeks 
have  always  maintained  a  predominating  posi- 
tion :  first,  on  account  of  their  influence  on  the 
ethnographic  and  linguistic  composition  of  the 
mixed  Hellenism  in  the  population  of  the 
capital ;  secondly,  on  account  of  the  strength 
peculiar  to  their  nation  (this  strength  having  by 
no  means  been  lost,  nor  has  it  been  to  this 
very  day) ;  and,  finally,  on  account  of  their 
excellent  influence  in  politics,  most  marked 
and  significant  during  the  time  of  the  Kom- 
nenes.  Through  these  a  new  phase  of  the 
empire  was  developed. 

Those  who,  when  Constantinople  fell,  fled  from 
the  ruin,  bearing  with  them  the  treasures  of  the 
wisdom   of   their   ancient   forefathers,   well   de- 


THE   BYZANTINES.  9 1 

served  the  name  of  Hellenes,  which  they  as- 
sumed. 

The  emperors  reigned  under  conditions  which 
had  developed  in  the  political  new-formation  or 
creation  of  Constantine  the  Great.  They  repre- 
sented in  their  person  the  majesty,  the  unity, 
and  the  coherence  of  the  empire.  The  emperor 
had  control  of  the  army  and  navy,  of  the  ex- 
ternal politics,  of  the  executives,  and  of  an 
essential  part  of  the  legislative  power.  All  this 
constituted  on  the  one  hand  the  strength  of  the 
autocracy  and  explains  on  the  other  hand  its 
temporary  weakness.  The  fundamental  con- 
struction, the  essential  institutions  were  so  well 
founded  that  this  remarkable  organization,  the 
Byzantine  Empire,  maintained  itself  while  weak 
and  even  decidedly  bad  emperors  governed.  It 
endured  repeatedly,  without  actually  endanger- 
ing its  existence,  during  the  severest  crises.  It 
required  the  work  of  a  century  of  the  miserr 
able  dynasty  of  the  Angelos  to  enable  Enrico 
Dandolos  and  the  Knighthood  of  Lombardy, 
Burgundy,  Champagne,  and  Flanders  to  gain 
the  victory  over  the  Byzantines,  in  the  year 
1204. 

The  condition  of  the  vast  empire  during  the 
six  or  seven  centuries  from  Justinian  I.  until  the 


92       CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

fourth  crusade  was  only  very  exceptionally  such 
that  the  position  of  a  Byzantine  emperor  would 
have  been  considered  enviable,  or  as  the  highest 
degree  of  earthly  happiness.  The  situation  con- 
tinually demanded  men  of  a  high  sense  of  duty 
and  understanding  of  their  enormous  task,  men 
of  great  talents  and  excellent  training  for  their 
vocation,  men  of  great  vigor  and  perseverance. 
By  no  means  was  the  throne  always  occupied  by 
men  who  excelled  in  the  princely  attributes 
mentioned,  still  less  were  they  always  men  of 
such  type  as  the  circumstances,  sometimes  very 
difficult,  would  have  required. 

During  more  than  a  millennium,  from  the  ac- 
cession of  Arcadius  in  395  to  the  heroic  death  of 
Constantine  XIII.  in  1453,  the  Eastern  Empire 
was  governed  by  a  succession  of  eighty-one  em- 
perors. Of  these  eighty-one  autocrats  seventy- 
three  can  be  assigned  to  one  or  other  of  the  ten 
dynasties.  Each  of  these  dynasties  comprises  a 
group  of  persons  who  succeeded  one  another 
upon  the  throne  either  by  right  of  blood,  or  by 
reason  of  the  imperial  will  and  the  consent  of 
the  regnant  family,  of  which  they  were  the 
representatives  and,  in  one  sense,  the  members 
and  perpetuators.  The  continuity  of  the  ten 
Byzantine  dynasties  was  broken  only  by  seven 


THE   BYZANTINES.  93 

isolated  princes,  the  duration  of  whose  combined 
reigns  amounts  to  about  thirty  years. 

With  these  facts  before  us  we  find  it  difficult 
to  understand  the  historians  who  write:  Mo- 
mentous was  often  the  circumstance  that  there 
existed  no  regular  order  of  succession  to  the 
throne.  Imposing  or  meritorious  emperors,  who 
enjoyed  great  popularity,  were  well  able  to  tes- 
tate the  crown  to  their  sons  or  even  their  widows, 
and  thus  we  find  a  whole  number  of  dynasties. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  when  in  the  nature  of 
things  a  change  of  rulers  was  in  view,  bloody 
palace  revolts,  cowardly  murder,  and  open  acts 
of  atrocity  occurred  during  the  long  history  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire  as  well  as  during  the  his- 
tory of  other  empires.  The  influence  of  women 
of  the  court,  of  powerful  ministers,  but  also 
of  eunuchs  which  came  more  and  more  into 
the  foreground  became  significant  in  such 
moments.  We  shall  see  later  on  how  much 
all  this  was  due  to  the  unavoidable  influence 
of  barbarism. 

Of  the  seventy-six  emperors  and  five  em- 
presses who  occupied  the  Byzantine  throne  fif- 
teen were  put  to  death,  seven  were  blinded  or 
otherwise  mutilated,  four  were  deposed  and 
imprisoned   in  monasteries,  and  ten  were  com- 


94      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

pelled  to  abdicate.  "This  list,"  says  Bikela, 
from  whose  book  I  have  copied  it,  "  comprising 
nearly  half  of  the  whole  number,  is  a  sufficient 
indication  of  the  horrors  by  which  the  history  of 
the  empire  is  only  too  often  marked,  and  it  may 
be  frankly  admitted  that  these  dark  stains,  dis- 
figuring pages  which  but  for  them  would  be 
bright  with  the  things  that  were  beautiful  and 
glorious,  go  some  way  to  excuse  if  not  justify 
the  obloquy  which  Western  writers  have  been  so 
prone  to  cast  upon  the  East.  But  it  is  not  by 
considering  the  evil  only,  any  more  than  the 
good  only,  that  it  is  possible  to  form  a  correct 
opinion  of  an  historical  epoch.  To  judge  the 
Byzantine  Empire  only  by  the  crimes  which  de- 
filed the  palace  would  be  as  unjust  as  if  the 
French  people  were  to  be  estimated  by  nothing 
but  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  and  the  Commune  of  1871." 

Notwithstanding  the  existence  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  the  Byzantine  Empire,  the  con- 
tinual and  uninterrupted  contact  of  the  Byzan- 
tines with  the  barbaric  elements  by  which  they 
were  surrounded  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  their  existence  explains  the  lamented  inci- 
dents in  their  history.  The  Byzantine  people, 
although  in  every  respect  the  superiors  of  their 


THE   BYZANTINES.  95 

contemporaries,  could  not  altogether  escape  from 
the  influence  of  their  neighbors;  they,  however, 
were  the  guardians  of  classical  civilization  and 
were  Christians,  and  strove  to  keep  above  the 
deluge  of  barbarism  by  which  the  rest  of  the 
world  was  then  inundated.  When  modern 
writers  accuse  the  Byzantines  of  cruelty  they 
seem  to  forget  that  their  contemporaries  in 
Western  Europe  had  manners  and  principles  of 
jurisprudence  which  were  marked  by  a  ferocity 
unapproached  by  anything  in  Byzantine  despo- 
tism. Bikela  refers  to  executions  of  Dolino  in 
Italy  and  of  Hugh  the  Defender  (the  young)  in 
England,  to  the  murderers  of  James  I.  in  Scot- 
land, and  to  the  whole  history  of  the  processes 
against  the  templars  or  the  lepers  in  France ;  to 
the  peculiar  sentence  of  high  treason  in  England, 
often  fully  carried  out  within  the  last  century, 
and  even  pronounced  in  Ireland  in  the  present 
century ;  to  the  legislation  of  England  with  re- 
gard to  religion,  and  especially  its  application 
during  the  sixteenth  century;  to  the  execution 
of  the  last  Inca  of  Peru  by  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment, and  of  Damiens  by  the  French.  Bikelas, 
however,  does  not  mention  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion, thQ  chambers  of  torture,  especially  in  Ger- 
many,  the  institutio  criininalis  Carolina,  the  tor- 


96       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

tures  to  which  supposed  witches  were  subjected 
even  in  our  own  country. 

The  most  deplorable  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire,  the  period  in  which  as- 
sassination and  mutilation  most  abounded,  was 
that  in  which  it  was  exposed  to  the  influence  of 
the  crusaders  and  thus  brought  in  contact  with 
Western  Europe.  During  the  twenty  years  be- 
tween II 83  to  1204,  six  emperors  occupied  the 
shaky  throne  of  the  East ;  all  of  them  were  de- 
posed, two  of  them  were  blinded,  and  all  were 
put  to  death,  except  Isaac  IT.,  who  anticipated 
the  executioner  by  dying  in  prison. 

No  nation  can  boast  of  an  immaculate  history. 
The  French  kingdom,  the  unity  of  the  Catholic 
Church  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  Protestantism 
have  been  established  through  all  sorts  of  crimes 
and  errors.  A  great  man  even  is  constituted  by 
his  faults  as  much  as  by  his  good  qualities.  The 
roughness,  the  harsh  ways  of  Napoleon  formed 
to  some  extent  his  strength.  Had  he  been  well 
trained,  polite,  modest,  he  would  not  have  suc- 
ceeded ;  he  would  have  been  no  more  powerful 
than  we  are. 

If  we  are  to  judge  the  Byzantine  court  by  its 
fruits,  we  shall  see  that  it  was  not,  as  some 
writers    maintain,    the    abode    of    frivolity   and 


THE   BYZANTINES.  97 

effeminacy.  It  is  true  for  a  time  a  herd  of  eu- 
nuchs dishonored  the  imperial  palaces,  and  alto- 
gether many  crimes  were  committed  within 
their  walls;  on  the  other  hand,  however,  manly 
virtue  was  never  long  lacking  to  the  Byzantine 
throne,  and  the  majority  of  the  sovereigns  who 
occupied  it  showed  themselves  worthy  of  their 
exalted  station.  This  can  be  proved  by  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  history : 

In  the  sixth  century  Justinian  I.  reigned  for 
over  forty  years.  As  a  conqueror  he  restored  to 
the  Roman  army  its  ancient  fame ;  as  a  sover- 
eign he  adorned  with  great  buildings  not  only 
his  capital,  but  cities  located  in  his  remotest 
provinces ;  as  a  legislator  he  took  a  place  in  the 
history  of  jurisprudence  which  has  made  his 
name  immortal. 

The  seventh  century  is  filled  by  the  great 
name  of  Heraclius,  who,  in  his  victorious  wars 
against  the  Persians,  resumed  and  continued  the 
work  of  Alexander  the  Great.  His  great-grand- 
son, Constantine  IV.,  was  faithful  to  the  glorious 
traditions  of  his  progenitor,  and  by  his  brave  re- 
sistance to  the  repeated  expeditions  of  the  Arabs 
against  Constantinople  stemmed  the  tide  of 
Mohammedan  conquest  and  earned  the  title  of 

Deliverer  of  Europe. 

7 


98       CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

In  the  eighth  century  Leo  III.,  the  savior  of 
Constantinople  and  reformer  of  the  empire, 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  Byzantine  world. 

In  the  ninth  century  Basil  I.  crowned  the 
work  of  Justinian  I.  by  his  final  codification  of 
Roman  law,  and  exalted  the  power  of  the  em- 
pire, which  under  him  and  his  successors  enjoyed 
a  lengthened  period  of  greatness  and  prosperity. 

In  the  tenth  century  Nikophorus  II.,  John  I., 
and  Basil  II.  (the  Bulgar  slayer)  fought  glori- 
ously against  the  Mohammedans  and  the  Bul- 
gars. 

In  the  twelfth  century  three  successive  mon- 
archs  of  the  house  of  the  Komnenes,  Alexis  L, 
his  son  John  II.,  and  his  grandson,  the  heroic 
Manuel  I.,  in  the  midst  of  every  variety  of  plot 
and  distraction,  saved  the  dignity  of  the  throne 
and  preserved  the  safety  of  the  state. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  Theodore  I.  and 
John  III.  rallied  the  national  forces  in  the 
midst  of  calamities  and  shed  lustre  upon  the 
imperial  crown,  till  the  day  when  Michael  VIII., 
by  the  recon quest  of  Constantinople,  opened  the 
way  to  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  the  East- 
ern Empire.  And  these  are  not  the  only  Byzan- 
tine emperors  whose  names  shine  gloriously  in 
history.      Ignorance  and  spite  have  for  a  long 


THE   BYZANTINES.  99 

time  combined  to  cast  obscurity  over  the  renown 
of  some,  but  the  impartiality  of  more  modern 
writers  is  at  length  beginning  to  do  justice  to 
their  memory. 

It  is  not  to  the  throne  alone  that  we  must  look 
in  order  to  find  the  great  names  of  Byzantine 
history.  Through  the  whole  course  of  the  em- 
pire's existence,  there  were  never  lacking  emi- 
nent men  who  preserved  the  best  ^traditions  of 
the  classical  ages.  In  every  period  there  arose 
illustrious  soldiers,  able  statesmen,  good  and 
saintly  ecclesiastics,  and  men  of  learning  to 
whom  the  Greek  nation  owes  at  least  the  almost 
unique  advantage  of  possessing,  in  its  own  lan- 
guage, its  own  annals  for  an  unbroken  period  of 
more  than  twenty  centuries. 

From  the  very  foundation  of  Constantinople, 
with  the  afflux  of  more  and  more  Greeks  to  this 
new  capital,  a  most  important  factor  was  at  work 
to  complete  its  character,  namely,  the  influence 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  conversion  of  Constantine  the  Great  and 
his  house  to  the  new  world  religion  promoted 
the  Christian  cause  to  a  high  degree.  The 
development  of  the  Greek  nation  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  is  highly  interesting. 
The  world  language  of  the  East,  the  elegant  Ian- 


;00      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

I  guage  of  conversation  and  literature  of  the  new 
Roman  Empire  between  the  Adria  and  the  Eu- 
phratus  had  become  the  language  of  the  Church, 
and  this  circumstance  contributed  largely  in  giv- 
ing the  new  capital,  Constantinople,  a  Greek  phy- 
siognomy. The  Christian  religion  took  root  on 
Greek  soil.  It  was  embraced  not  only  by  the 
poor  and  humbler  classes,  but  also  by  the  edu- 
cated Greeks  with  their  acute  intellect,  inclined 
especially  to  dialectic  activity  regarding  the 
dogmatics  of  the  new  religion.  They  had  in- 
herited philosophic  speculation  and  dialectic 
cunning  from  the  antique  Greek  philosophers, 
and  this  inheritance  which  they  now  applied 
to  theological  questions  became  subsequently 
dangerous  to  them  since  it  led  to  religious  dis- 
sensions. 

Montreuil  says:  "The  Greeks  are  by  their 
very  nature  philosophical  and  speculative.  The 
search  for  abstract  truth  is  to  them  more  attrac- 
tive than  the  pursuit  of  reforms  or  the  regulation 
of  manners.  They  are  a  race  eminently  liter- 
ary. They  have  always  been  thinkers  rather 
than  statesmen.  They  accordingly  seized  upon 
that  side  of  theology  which  appealed  most 
strongly  to  their  natural  genius.  The  heresies 
which  arose  among  them  were  begotten  by  the 


THE    BYZANTINES.  WOt, 

same  spirit  which  is  manifest  through  the  whole  ( 
history  of  their  race. 

"  The  unity  of  the  Church  was  saved  by  the 
councils.  These  assemblies  dealt  with  the  here- 
sies and  eradicated  them ;  they  defined  the  doc- 
trines and  ratified  the  organization  of  the  Church. 
The  territory  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  was  the  I 
locality  where  the  councils  met.  Their  conduct 
was  animated  from  first  to  last  by  the  keenness 
of  the  Greek  intellect,  which,  now  clothed  in  its 
Byzantine  phase,  here  offered  to  the  service  of 
the  Gospel  the  same  natural  gifts  which  had  once 
produced  all  that  was  best  in  thought  of  the  old 
Hellenic  world." 

The  Greek  inclination  to  partisanship  showed 
itself  in  regard  to  religious  matters  to  an  ex-  I 
traordinary  degree.  The  fiercest  fights  between 
orthodoxy  and  heterodoxy  inflamed  the  Greeks 
for  centuries,  lasting  far  into  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  often  disturbed  the  public  peace ;  but  event- 
ually they  all  ceased,  never  to  return.  In  firm 
tenacity  the  Greeks  adhere  to  the  orthodox,  the 
Anatolic  Church,  and  their  religion  has  become 
as  well  marked  a  part  of  their  nationality  as  the 
religion  of  Homer  and  Plato  was  characteristic 
of  the  old  Hellas. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  unceasing  disputes, 


5€a,'     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

now  about  a  word,  and  again  about  a  syllable, 
Have  not  added  to  the  glory  of  the  empire. 
There  were  times  when  Constantinople  was  con- 
verted into  a  vast  theological  seminary,  in  which 
everybody  took  part  in  controversies.  "  If  you 
ask  a  person,"  says  Gregorius  of  Nyssa,  "about 
coins,  he  delivers  a  discourse  about  ^ey^ryrov  and 
dy^v'^rjTov.  You  inquire  concerning  the  price  of 
bread;  the  baker  informs  you  that  the  son  is 
subordinate  to  the  father.  If  you  wish  to  know 
whether  the  bath  is  in  good  order,  the  answer 
is:  'The  son  was  created  out  of  nothing.'  " 

Perhaps  the  controversies  were  so  lively  at 
Constantinople  because  the  intelligent  and  culti- 
vated people  found  in  them  a  field  for  the  exer- 
cise of  their  mental  activity,  which  was  not 
furnished  them  by  printed  matter,  by  news- 
papers or  telegrams,  or  by  presidential  elections. 
With  the  Byzantines  religion  was  an  object  of 
public  interest.  The  fact,  however,  that  there 
was  a  war  in  Germany  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  lasting  thirty  years,  and  the  records 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  show  how  questions  of 
conscience  have  excited  human  passion  in  other 
countries  likewise. 

The  question  of  truth  in  religion  touched  the 
Byzantine   state  more  deeply  than   it  did  most 


tHE  BYZANTINES.  IO3 

States.  They  had  to  make  the  Church  strong. 
The  Church  was  the  very  foundation  upon  which 
rested  the  prosperity  and  even  the  preservation 
of  the  state.  "The  Greeks,"  says  Montreuil 
"  felt  toward  their  religion  an  attachment  which 
amounted  to  fanaticism ;  their  religious  beliefs 
were  the  centre  around  which  all  other  ideas 
were  grouped;  and  the  bond  of  religion  was 
more  powerful  than  any  other  in  inspiring  the 
Hellenic  nationality  with  a  lively,  enduring 
unity." 

The  main  feature  which  checked  the  power  of 
the  emperors  was  the  Anatolic  Church.  Public 
opinion  was  controlled  by  the  Church,  and  with 
this  even  emperors  had  to  reckon.  It  is  true 
that  the  Church  was  not  able  to  suppress  vice 
and  passion  to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  the 
horrible  manifestations  of  savagery,  the  cruelty 
of  judicial  proceedings,  which  often  formed  a 
direct  contradiction  to  the  otherwise  brilliant 
civilization  of  the  Byzantines;  but  Christian 
morality  and  Christian  views  had  developed  far 
enough,  at  least,  to  prevent  entirely  or  tem- 
porarily such  outrageous  conduct  as  had  been 
shown  by  not  a  few  of  the  Roman  emperors. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  capital  and  also  that  of  the  provincial 


104      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

centres  became  more  and  more  decidedly  ab- 
sorbed in  ecclesiastical  questions  and  interests. 
All  higher  interests  for  centuries  were  concen- 
trated in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  powerful 
dogmatic  fights  which  shook  the  empire  like 
earthquakes,  the  long-continued  wrestling  of  the 
parties  in  the  image  question,  and  still  later  the 
dogmatic  war  with  Rome  were  by  no  means  con- 
sidered as  a  decided  evil.  The  genius  of  the 
Byzantines  found  pleasure  in  these  movements 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  repeated  dogmatic 
parliamentary  battles  before  the  greater  or  lesser 
synods  appeared  to  them  almost  of  more  impor- 
tance than  the  actual  fights  of  the  legions  with 
the  barbaric  peoples  at  the  Danube,  the  Balkans, 
and  Strymon,  and  with  the  overwhelming  masses 
of  Islam. 

It  has  been  admitted  in  the  foregoing  remarks 
that  the  population  sometimes  devoted  an  exces- 
sive amount  of  attention  to  theological  discus- 
sions, and  it  must  be  further  conceded  that  there 
were  periods  when  the  development  of  monas- 
ticism  was  anything  but  beneficial  to  the  state, 
when  monasteries  were  universal  to  excess, 
when  the  clergy  became  a  danger  to  the  state, 
and  finally  contributed  to  the  fall  of  Constanti- 
nople.     On  the  other  hand,  historic  truth  com- 


THE   BYZANTINES.  105 

pels  US  to  accord  the  monastic  orders  the  just  / 
praise  which  is  their  due  for  spreading  Chris- 
tianity and  Christian  civilization  among  the  bar- 
barous nations,  since  while  they  preached  the 
Gospel  they  taught  letters  and  art.  The  Sla- 
vonic language  was  reduced  to  writing  by  the  two 
Greek  monks  Cyril  and  Methodius,  and  Greek 
monks  were  the  teachers  of  Ulphilas,  the  prin 
cipal  apostle  and  civilizer  of  the  Goths.    . 

"The  free  Greece  of  to-day,  moreover,"  says 
Bikelas,  "  can  never  forget  her  everlasting  debt 
to  the  monasteries  of  her  church,  which  were 
centres  of  national  life  and  national  culture,  as 
well  as  of  national  religion  during  the  ages  or 
her  bondage." 

On  the  whole,  the  administration  of  the 
finances  of  the  Byzantines  was  economical.  Ex- 
cellent statesmen  and  financiers  succeeded,  dur- 
ing the  good  times  of  the  empire,  in  accumulat- 
ing larger  sums  in  the  treasury  than  any  other 
power  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Nothwithstanding  this,  there  were  pe- 
riods of  senseless  extravagance  and  unscrupu- 
lous corruption.  But  even  in  this  direction  a 
bad  government  could  not  go  too  far,  because  of 
the  development  of  principles  which  nobody 
could  overstep  without  danger  to  himself.     For 


to6     CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

instance,  it  was  considered  absolutely  unpardon- 
able to  reduce  the  value  of  the  normal  gold  coin 
of  the  empire.  Those  emperors  who  were  suc- 
cessful in  reducing  the  taxes  were  sure  of  the 
greatest  popularity.  Extortions,  when  not  jus- 
tified by  extremely  dangerous  conditions  of  the 
state,  were  revenged  by  bloody  revolts,  some- 
times of  a  cruel  character.  The  readiness  and  the 
fighting  power  of  the  army  corresponded  exactly 
with  the  flourishing  and  well-regulated  state  of 
the  finances. 

To  Finlay  belongs  the  eminent  and  scholarly 
credit  of  having  contradicted  and  completely 
dispelled  the  general  belief  in  the  military 
feebleness  and  incompetency  of  the  Byzantines. 

The  Byzantine  soldiery  was  recruited  from 
among  the  most  warlike  races  of  both  the  Greek 
and  the  barbarian  population  of  the  Empire. 
They  were  in  tactics  and  arms  superior  to  every 
enemy  against  whom  they  had  to  contend.  They 
were  often  braver  than  they  got  the  credit  of  hav- 
ing been.  They  knew  how  to  fight  when  they 
could  not  count  on  victory.  The  continued  in- 
vasions constantly  brought  against  them  hordes  of 
new  enemies  with  new  modes  of  warfare  and  new 
terrors.  But  Byzantine  soldiers  never  refused 
the  challenge.      Under  Heraclius  and  John  Tzi- 


THE   BYZANTINES.  lO/ 

miskis  they  glowed  with  enthusiasm;  tinder 
Leo  VI.  they  knew  how  to  face  their  fate  and  do 
their  duty.  It  is  true  the  Greeks  were  first  over- 
come by  the  Latins,  but  finally  they  were  vic- 
torious over  them.  As  already  mentioned,  long- 
continued  bad  government  gave  the  Frankish 
adventurers  the  advantage.  The  wealth  of  the 
provinces  contributed  largely  to  the  treasury; 
the  sums  which  would  have  served  to  render 
armies  efficient  and  provinces  happy  were  squan- 
dered by  the  emperors  at  that  period  to  furnish 
amusements  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  or 
to  feed  the  luxurious  splendor  of  the  imperial 
court. 

By  looking  at  the  incessant  succession  of  ene- 
mies who  never  left  the  Byzantine  government  a 
moment  of  respite  from  attack,  we  shall  be  able 
to  form  a  fair  idea  as  to  what  must  have  been 
the  strength  and  vitality  of  the  empire  itself, 
and  what  the  extent  of  the  service  it  rendered  to 
Europe,  to  the  cause  of  civilized  humanity. 

The  first  adversary  against  whom  the  Byzan- 
tines had  to  contend  were  the  Goths.  About 
eighty  years  before  the  foimdation  of  Constanti- 
nople these  savages  crossed  the  Dniester  and  the 
Danube  and  devastated  the  country  far  and 
wide.      Constantine  brought  them  into  subjec- 


I08      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

tion.  They  rebelled  again  under  Theodosins 
the  Great  and  were,  after  a  long  struggle,  sub- 
dued anew.  After  Theodosius'  death  they  com- 
menced their  invasion  under  Alaric.  At  length 
they  were  checked  by  the  imperial  armies,  and 
the  East  was  delivered  from  this  plague  and 
danger  to  civilization.  "  If  they  had  taken 
root,"  says  Bikela,  "and  founded  states  in  the 
East,  as  they  did  in  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain;  if 
the  Byzantine  world  had  been  engulfed  beneath 
the  flood  of  their  immigration,  the  history  of 
the  human  race  would  have  been  a  different  one 
from  that  which  it  has  been.  If  the  East  had 
been  barbarized  by  the  Goths  as  was  the  West, 
and  the  Eastern  Empire  had  been  destroyed, 
from  what  material  would  the  European  Renais- 
sance have  sprung?" 

About  a  century  and  a  half  after  Alaric, 
Belisarius  and  Narses,  the  generals  of  Justinian, 
crushed  the  Gothic  power  in  Italy,  and  destroyed 
the  Vandals  in  Africa.  These  military  victories 
aided  the  regeneration  of  social  life  and  order  in 
these  countries. 

After  the  Byzantines  had  rendered  such  great 
service  to  Italy  by  fighting  the  Goths  and  had 
helped  to  preserve  culture  in  the  West,  it  is  one 
of  the  most  regrettable  parts  of  Byzantine  history 


THE   BYZANTINES.  IO9 

that  their  excessive  interference  in  affairs  purely 
Italian  brought  on  the  rupture  between  the  East- 
ern and  the  Western  churches. 

After  the  Goths  came  the  Huns.  These 
hordes,  gradually  advancing  from  Asia  into 
Europe,  made  their  appearance  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury under  Attila.  He  ravaged  Thrace  and 
Macedonia  and  imposed  a  humiliating  peace 
upon  the  government  of  Constantinople,  which 
happened  to  be  represented  at  the  time  by  a 
child  and  a  woman,  namely,  Theodosius  H.  and 
his  sister,  the  Empress  Pulcheria.  When,  how- 
ever, in  course  of  time  the  husband  of  the  latter, 
the  Emperor  Marcia,  ascended  the  throne,  and 
Attila  sent  to  demand  the  continuance  of  the 
tribute,  he  was  met  with  the  reply:  "  I  have  iron 
for  Attila,  but  no  gold!"  Attila  moved  away 
westward,  spreading  devastation  and  terror 
around  him,  till  the  day  when  ^tius  broke  the 
power  of  the  Huns  upon  the  plain  of  Chalons- 
sur-Marne. 

In  the  sixth  century  the  Avans  poured  down 
from  the  region  of  the  Volga.  In  the  time  of 
Justinian  II.  and  that  of  his  successor,  they  dev- 
astated Byzantine  provinces.  Priscus,  the  gen- 
eral of  the  Emperor  Maurice,  at  last  subdued 
them  in  the  year  600.     But  twenty  years  later 


no      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING  GREEK. 

they  advanced,  in  alliance  with  the  Persians,  to 
the  very  walls  of  Constantinople  and  plundered 
the  suburbs.  The  siege  itself  was  in  vain,  the 
Avans  retired,  and  never  afterward  played  an 
important  part  in  the  history  of  the  empire. 
The  deliverance  of  the  capital  from  these  bar- 
barians is  still  commemorated  by  the  Church  in 
the  use  of  the  "Avadiffto^  'T/xvo?,  which  was  com- 
posed to  celebrate  it. 

The  consequences  of  the  incursions  of  the  Slav 
tribes  were  much  more  permanent  than  those 
produced  by  any  other  barbarous  nation.  The 
first  Slavs  who  attacked  the  empire,  after  having 
seized  Dacia,  were  subdued  by  the  Great  Jus- 
tinian. Nevertheless  Slavs  continued  to  move 
forward  till  they  entered  even  Greece  itself. 

From  this  time  onward,  sometimes  as  allies, 
sometimes  as  enemies,  sometimes  as  subjects, 
and  sometimes  as  prisoners,  the  Slavs  scattered 
themselves  over  the  empire,  and  at  last  took 
permanent  possession  of  the  settlements  in 
which  they  are  still  to  be  found.  From  the 
sixth  to  the  eighth  century  Slav  invasions  of 
Greece  were  frequent,  and  it  is  upon  this  fact 
that  Fallmerayer  based  his  famous  theory  to  the 
effect  that  the  Hellenes  are  extinct  and  that 
Hellas  is  now  peopled  by  a  Slav  population. 


THE   BYZANTINES.  Ill 

In  the  older  works  on  the  history  of  Greece 
before  the  time  of  the  Osmans,  the  history  of 
Athens  from  the  year  529  to  the  time  of  Basilios 
II.  is  almost  a  blank. 

In  the  year  1835  the  celebrated  Fallmerayer, 
at  the  time  the  best  instructed  man  about  New 
Greek  matters,  received  some  documents  from  the 
contents  of  which  he  tried  to  prove  that  Athens, 
about  the  time  of  Justinian  I.,  had  been  over- 
whelmed by  masses  of  the  Slavic  army  and  had 
been  devastated ;  that  the  Athenians  had  then  left 
the  city  and  had  retired  to  Salamis,  where  they  had 
spent  four  hundred  years  in  exile,  during  which 
time  the  monumental  splendor  of  Athens  had 
been  destroyed  and  the  city  transformed  into  a 
wood  of  olive-trees;  that  in  the  year  746  these 
woods,  together  with  what  little  had  been  left  of 
the  city,  had  been  consumed  by  fire.  This  view 
has  been  held  with  a  certain  tenacity  for  some 
years  in  the  world  of  learning.  Researches  made 
since,  however,  have  furnished  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  spuriousness  of  the  documents.  Not  only 
that,  but  historical  facts  have  now  been  estab- 
lished to  prove  the  uninterrupted  existence  of 
the  city  of  Athens  during  the  whole  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Napoleon,   on    December  26th,    1805,  without 


112      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

further  preliminaries,  pronounced  and  pro- 
claimed through  the  Moniteur:  "  The  dynasty  of 
Naples  has  ceased  to  reign."  Fallmerayer,  per- 
haps admiring  the  style  of  the  great  man  in 
deciding  the  fate  of  a  nation,  disposed  of  the 
Greeks  in  the  following  words:  "The  Hellenic 
race  has  died  out  in  Europe."  This  bold  asser- 
tion was  made  by  him  in  the  year  1830.  For 
some  years  Fallmerayer  gained  an  easy  victory 
over  numerous  opponents  who  attacked  him  with 
much  passion,  but  with  insufficient  philological 
and  historical  knowledge.  Only  one  German 
scholar,  the  eminent  Zinkeisen,  has  taken  the 
proper  course  to  contradict  the  ingenious  an- 
nihilator  of  the  Greeks.  He  disproved  Fall- 
merayer's  statements  by  means  of  a  careful  and 
systematic  research  of  Byzantine  historians,  and 
thereby  succeeded  in  exposing  many  errors  and 
superficialities  of  that  writer.  After  Zinkeisen 
came  scientific  men  like  Ludwig  Ross,  Ernst 
Curtius,  and  Carl  Mendelssohn-Bartholdi,  who 
aided  in  refuting  Fallmerayer's  theories  com- 
pletely. 
/^  This  reiteration  of  Fallmerayer' s  error  may 
\  appear  superfluous,  but  it  is  not;  for  there  are 
I  many  people  who  have  read  Fallmerayer  only 
I  and  are  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  his  statements 


THE   BYZANTINES.  II3 


^ 


have  been  refuted.  The  publications  of  this 
man  of  learning  have  produced  some  good  re 
suits :  they  have  caused  one  of  the  most  obscure 
periods  in  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  to 
be  thoroughly  investigated  by  eminent  scholars. 
These  investigations  have  shown  that  the  Greeks 
of  to-day  are  the  direct  descendants  of  the  an- 
cient Greeks;  and  their  war  for  independence 
from  1 82 1  to  1828  is  evidence  that  they  are  also 
the  heirs  of  the  immortal  glory  which  lives  in  they' 
annals  of  history  of  their  ancestors. 

Bikelas  says  in  regard  to  the  Fallmerayer 
theory :  "  Moreover,  whether  the  Slavs  over- 
spread Greece  or  not,  no  one  who  has  any 
knowledge  of  the  actual  phenomena  could  testify 
to  anything  but  that  their  absorption  has  been 
complete.  The  entirely  and  exclusively  Hel- 
lenic character  of  all  the  features,  physical  and 
intellectual,  manifested  by  the  present  inhabi- 
tants of  the  country  is  a  most  striking  fact,  al- 
most unique  in  history,  a  glorious  mark  of  our 
race,  and  a  wondrous  proof  of  the  intensity  of 
our  national  vitality." 

The  Russians  appear  on  the  stage  of  history 
in  the  ninth  century.  Four  times  in  two  cen- 
turies did  they  set  sail  toward  Constantinople, 
but  their  attempts  failed. 


114      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

In  956  Olga,  a  Russian  princess,  came  to  Con- 
stantinople, where  she  was  baptized.  By  her 
Christianity  was  introduced  into  Russia.  From 
that  time  the  Russians  were  generally  friendly 
to  the  empire. 

The  Bulgars,  originally  a  Turkish  tribe  but 
who  at  present  speak  a  Slavonic  dialect,  moved 
forward  from  the  Volga  to  the  Danube,  invaded 
Thracia  in  559  and  menaced  Constantinople. 
The  city  was  saved  by  Belisarius.  Thenceforth 
they  were  a  source  of  continued  trouble  to  the 
empire.  The  humanizing  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity seemed  to  have  mitigated  the  savagery  of 
the  Bulgars,  when  toward  the  close  of  the  tenth 
century  a  war  broke  out  which  was  fiercer  than 
ever.  After  a  bloody  struggle  lasting  thirty 
years  Basil  11. ,  the  Bulgar  slayer,  completely 
shattered  their  power  in  10 18,  and  Bulgaria  was 
made  a  Byzantine  province.  One  hundred  and 
seventy  years  later  they  again  rose  in  rebellion, 
after  they  had  acknowledged  the  religious  su- 
premacy of  the  Pope.  Nevertheless  while  the 
Latin  dynasty  was  reigning  in  Constantinople, 
John,  Krai  of  the  Bulgarians,  fought  on  the 
Greek  side  against  the  Franks. 

The  Magyars  or  Hungarians,  another  Turkish 
tribe,  filled  Europe  with  alarm  until  their  power 


THE   BYZANTINES.  II5 

was  destroyed  by  the  German  emperor  Otto  the 
Great. 

In  the  end  the  empire  succeeded,  often  by 
arms,  at  other  times  by  diplomacy,  but  most  of 
all  by  the  influence  of  religion,  commerce,  and 
civilization,  not  only  in  protecting  itself  against 
the  changes  of  these  successive  inroads,  but  in 
laying  the  foundation  of  civilization  and  even  of 
future  greatness  amid  these  hostile  barbarous 
tribes. 

The  Oriental  enemies  of  the  empire  were  of 
a  different  sort.  In  their  case  the  Byzantine 
power  had  not  to  deal  with  barbarous  tribes 
which  might  first  be  conquered,  but  could  after- 
ward be  assimilated  to  the  imperial  state  by  the 
influences  of  civilization  and  Christianity.  In 
the  East,  new  Rome  was  called  to  wrestle  with 
mighty  nations  possessed  of  a  highly  organized 
polity  and  animated  by  a  special  religious  faith. 
Europe  and  Asia  were  thus  brought  face  to 
face  in  implacable  contrast  and  collision;  the 
empire  of  the  Byzantines  is  deserving  of  last- 
ing gratitude  for  the  long  contention  by 
which  it  continued  the  traditions  of  classical 
Hellas. 

The  continuity  of  these  traditions  was  espe- 
cially marked  in  the  struggle  of  the  empire  with 


Il6      CHRISTIAN    GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

Persia.  The  collision  between  these  opposing 
forces  was  terrible.  Whole  armies  perished; 
rich  and  fertile  provinces  were  reduced  to 
deserts.  The  deadly  conflicts  of  so  many  cen- 
turies did  not  convince  either  Greeks  or  Persians 
of  the  futility  of  trying  to  alter  the  natural  boun- 
daries between  the  two  empires.  In  the  end 
the  Persians  were  overcome  by  Heraclius,  who 
after  a  long  and  glorious  struggle  imposed  peace 
upon  them  in  628. 

Since  the  days  of  Scipio  and  Hannibal  no 
bolder  enterprise  has  been  attempted  than  that 
which  Heraclius  achieved  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  empire.  The  peace  he  forced  them  to 
accept  they  never  broke.  From  this  time 
the  Asiatic  enemies  of  Christianity  were  no  long- 
er the  Persians,  but  Mohammedans,  first  the 
Arabs,  and  afterward  the  Turks. 

Jerusalem  was  captured  by  Omar  in  637.  The 
next  year  Egypt  fell  into  the  hands  of  Amron, 
after  Alexandria  had  sustained  a  siege  of  four- 
teen months.  Nine  years  later  the  Arabs  con- 
quered the  remaining  countries  of  Roman 
Africa,  and  in  sixty  more  they  destroyed  the 
kingdom  of  the  Goths  and  took  possession  of 
Spain.  From  Spain  they  passed  into  France, 
but  the  tide  of  their  conquest,  in  that  direction, 


THE  BYZANTINES,  11/ 

was  at  length  arrested  forever  by  Charles  Martel 
upon  the  plains  of  Tours  in  732. 

While  Mohammedanism  was  thus  pouring  into 
Western  Europe,  Constantinople  formed  a  bar- 
rier on  the  East  which  it  utterly  failed  to  sur- 
mount. Under  Constantine  IV.  the  Arabs  as- 
sailed the  dominions  of  the  Byzantine  Empire, 
and  in  672  the  imperial  city  itself  sustained  a 
siege  of  five  months.  The  attempt  was  repeated 
in  vain  for  seven  consecutive  years,  and  was  fol- 
lowed in  the  end  by  a  peace  of  thirty  years' 
duration,  but  in  717  the  Arabs  again  subjected 
the  capital  to  a  futile  siege,  which  lasted  thirteen 
months. 

If  they  had  succeeded  in  their  first  attempts, 
and  conquered  the  European  provinces  of  the 
Byzantine  Empire,  they  would  have  been  able  to 
advance  westward  and  unite  their  forces  with 
those  of  their  brethren  who  were  moving  north- 
ward out  of  Spain.  In  that  event,  we  should 
have  had  no  victory  of  Charles  Martel  to  cele- 
brate to-day  or  the  deliverance  of  the  Christian 
world,  and  the  probable  result  would  have  been 
that  delineated  by  Gibbon :  "  A  victorious  line  of 
march  had  prolonged  above  a  thousand  miles, 
from  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  to  the  banks  of  the 
Loire;    the  repetition  of  an  equal  space  would 


Il8      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

have  carried  the  Saracens  to  the  confines  of 
Poland  and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland;  the 
Rhine  is  not  more  impassable  than  the  Nile  or 
Euphratus,  and  the  Arabian  fleet  might  have 
sailed  without  a  naval  combat  into  the  Thames. 
Perhaps  the  interpretation  of  the  Koran  would 
now  be  taught  in  the  schools  of  Oxford,  and  her 
pulpits  might  demonstrate  to  a  circumcised  peo- 
ple the  sanctity  and  truth  of  the  revelations  of 
Mohammed." 

In  823  the  Arabs  from  Spain  conquered  Crete, 
and  when  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  years 
afterward  it  was  reconquered  by  Nikephorus  II. 
(Phokas),  that  prince  found  it  so  thoroughly 
Mohammedanized  that  it  required  a  new  evan- 
gelization before  the  island  could  be  retained  for 
Hellenism  and  Christianity. 

"  The  terrible  example  of  the  work  wrought  by 
the  Arabs,"  says  Bikelas,  "in  this  instance  is  a 
sufficient  proof  of  how  great  was  the  danger 
from  which  not  only  the  Hellenic  world  of  the 
East  in  particular,  but  also  Christian  Europe  in 
general  was  saved  by  the  efforts  of  the  Byzan- 
tine emperors." 

The  power  of  the  caliphs,  however,  was 
broken ;  they  gave  way  to  a  new  mortal  foe  of 
Christianity — that  new  enemy  was  the  Turk. 


THE    BYZANTINES.  I  I9 

In  1068  the  Turks  invaded  the  provinces  of 
the  empire  and  took  the  emperor,  Romanus  II., 
prisoner.  Twenty  years  later  they  conquered 
Asia  Minor  and  expelled  the  caliphs  from  Jeru- 
salem. 

The  capture  of  the  Holy  City  by  the  Turks 
was  the  cause  of  the  crusades,  which,  instead  of 
achieving  the  permanent  deliverance  of  the  holy 
places,  effected  the  impoverishment  and  ruin  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire. 

The  struggle  between  the  empire  and  the 
Ottoman  Turks  lasted  for  four  hundred  years. 
The  effort  of  the  Turks  was,  by  continued  and 
violent  incursions,  to  exterminate,  if  possible, 
the  Christian  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and 
thus  weaken  it,  with  a  view  to  ultimate  conquest. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  by  dint  of  habitually  mas- 
sacring the  peasantry,  making  slaves  of  the  sur- 
vivors, and  reducing  the  cultivated  tracts  to  a 
wilderness,  they  succeeded  after  a  while  in  ex- 
tinguishing the  Greek  population  and  doing 
away  with  the  Greek  language  in  the  interior  of 
Asia  Minor.  The  imperial  armies,  ever  becom- 
ing feebler,  strove  in  vain  to  repel  these  sudden 
invasions  and  to  protect  the  territory  and  sub- 
jects of  the  empire.  Nevertheless,  the  internal 
dissensions  among  the  Turks   were  so  serious. 


120      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

and  their  wars  against  the  Mongols  so  unfortu- 
nate, that  it  is  possible  the  Byzantines  might  in 
the  end  have  prevailed  over  them,  had  the  Latin 
Christians  been  willing  to  become  the  allies  and 
helpers  of  Christendom  in  the  East.  Unfortu- 
nately the  Latins,  instead  of  becoming  allies,  be- 
came enemies. 

Says  Bikelas,  from  whom  I  have  quoted  so 
much :  "  Blinded  by  religious  and  commercial 
rivalries,  by  the  question  of  Papal  supremacy, 
and  by  the  material  interests  of  the  Italian  re- 
publics, Western  Europe  failed  to  see  that  the 
line  of  defence  which  was  imperilled  was  really 
her  own,  and  that  by  being  themselves  the  first 
to  rend  and  degrade  the  imperial  purple,  the 
crusaders  were  only  hastening  the  moment  when 
the  Turks  should  trample  it  down  in  mire  and 
blood. 

"  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire ultimately  fell  before  the  unceasing  attacks 
of  its  Asiatic  foes.  Equally  unceasing  was  its 
strife  with  the  enemies  who  assailed  it  from  the 
north  and  west.  In  the  case  of  these  latter, 
however,  there  always  existed  the  tie  of  the 
common  profession  of  the  Christian  religion, 
which  always  left  open  the  door,  in  some  sort, 
for  the   hope  of   reconciliation.     On   the   other 


THE   BYZANTINES.  12  1 

side  it  was  quite  different.  Between  Constanti- 
nople, Christian,  Hellenic  and  Imperial  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  despotism  of  pagan  or  Moham- 
medan Asia  on  the  other,  there  was  a  great  gulf 
fixed.  With  them  no  community  of  life  could 
ever  be  possible.  The  Arabs  took  the  place  of 
the  Persians,  and  the  Turks  took  the  place  of  the 
Arabs.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  the 
Asiatic  enemy,  whoever  it  was,  was  always  in- 
spired by  an  intense  feeling  of  religious  hatred; 
the  motive,  a  rabid  longing  to  annihilate  that- 
Christian  state  which  formed  a  barrier  between 
them  and  the  destruction  of  Europe.  But  it  wasj 
due  to  that  barrier  that  Christian  Europe  was! 
saved  from  extermination  through  persecution  \ 
conducted  by  Persian  fire-worshippers,  and  from 
slavery  consequent  on  the  propagation  of  the  re-  I 
ligion  of  the  Koran  by  the  sword  of  the  Arabs.  1 
And  thus  it  was,  thanks  to  that  barrier,  that  West- 
ern Europe  had  the  time  given  her  so  to  develop 
her  strength  that  long  after  Constantinople  her- 
self had  fallen  in  the  struggle,  a  martyr  in  the 
cause  of  the  human  race,  she  was  able  to  shatter 
the  Turkish  navies  upon  the  waters  of  the  Lepanto 
and  to  rout  their  hordes  before  the  walls  of  Vien- 
na. Unhappily,  however,  the  fall  of  Constanti- 
nople was  in  great  part  the  work  of  that  very 


122      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

Europe  which  owed  and  owes  her  so  much.  It  is 
true  that  the  deathblow  was  given  by  the  battle- 
axe  of  Mahomet  II.,  and  this  blow  was  only  fatal 
because  the  victim  was  already  half  dead,  but  it 
is  the  crusades  which  are  responsible  more  than 
anything  else  for  reducing  her  to  that  condi- 
tion." 

In  our  school-books  the  crusades  bear  indeed 
a  very  different  aspect.     But  here  is  the  powerful 
truth   expressed  from   a  Greek   point   of   view. 
From  the  facts  as  given  by  Bikelas  we  learn  how 
evil  may  spring  from  the  best  motives.     A  like 
illustration  may  be  given  from  the  life  of  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  the  devout  Christian.     He  had 
the  idea  of  selling  the  natives  of  the  New  World 
as  slaves  in  order  to  raise  money  for  a  new  crusade. 
Columbus   and   the    Knights   of  the  Cross — the 
latter  called  themselves  champions  of  the  faith 
and  murdered  priests  of  Christ  on  the  ground 
that   they  were  schismatics — had  views  of   the 
Christian   religion   which  appear  most  peculiar 
now. 
y'rhe   appearance   of   the    crusaders  upon    the 
/   stage  of  history  is  the  first  act  in  the  final  trag- 
/      edy  of  the  empire.     The  climax  was  reached  in 
I       the  capture  and  ransacking  of  Constantinople  in 
\       1204.     From  this  outrage  the  empire  never  again 


THE   BYZANTINES.  12  3 

rallied.  "  If,"  says  Paparregopoulos,  speaking  of 
the  first  crusade,  "  the  Emperor  Alexis  had  been 
able  to  employ  against  the  Turks  the  land  and 
sea  forces  which  he  at  length  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  turn  against  his  pretended  allies,  and 
the  troops  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  send 
with  them  into  Asia  Minor  and  Syria ;  if  he  had 
been  able  to  reserve  for  the  struggle  against  Mo- 
hammedanism the  resources  of  which  he  was 
plundered  by  the  looting  and  extortions  of  the 
crusaders,  he  would  have  been  able  to  get  rid  of 
all  danger  from  the  unbelievers  far  more  effec- 
tively than  was  done  by  the  ephemeral  success 
of  the  Latins." 

History  has  yet  to  treat  the  attitude  of  the 
crusaders  in  the  East  from  a  point  of  view  of 
judicial  impartiality.  The  images  of  these 
events  are  still  shown  to  us  through  the  glass  of 
Western  prejudices.  "The  Latins,"  says  Fin- 
lay,  "  would  not  allow  that  their  disasters  were 
caused  by  their  own  misconduct  and  imprudence, 
they  persisted  in  attributing  all  their  misfortunes 
to  the  treachery  of  the  Greeks;  and  though 
Alexis  delivered  many  from  captivity,  the  cru- 
saders generally  regarded  him  as  an  enemy. 
According  to  these  accounts,  it  was  always  the 
Byzantines  who  were  in  the  wrong ;  they  were 


I 


124      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

liars  and  traitors ;  and  had  no  cause  to  regard  the 
crusaders  with  suspicion." 

The  Latin  conquerors  remained  in  possession 
of  the  imperial  throne  for  only  fifty-seven  years. 
During-  that  time  a  succession  of  gallant  em- 
perors gathered  together  in  exile  the  now  recov- 
ering forces  of  Greek  nationalism,  and  turned 
them  upon  the  Christian  adversaries  until  the 
day  came  in  1261,  when  Michael  VIII.  recon- 
quered the  city  of  Constantinople.  From  that 
time  the  division  between  the  Greek  and  the 
Latin  church  became  more  marked — all  attempts 
at  reunion  have  thus  far  failed. 

The  Frank  occupation  of  Greece  proper  which 
followed  the  seizure  of  Constantinople  in  1204 
lasted  two  centuries,  but  it  has  left  hardly  any 
abiding  trace,  and  introduced  no  important 
change  in  the  destiny  of  the  country.  Neither 
did  it  do  anything  to  retard  the  progress  of  the 
Turkish  conquest.  And  then  Constantinople 
fell  and  the  whole  Hellenic  world  passed  into 
Turkish  slavery.  Western  Europe  looked  with 
unconcern  at  the  appalling  catastrophe. 

Thus  perished  Constantinople,  Christian  and 
Imperial,  after  having  fought  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years. 

It  was  in  the  centuries  of  the  Byzantine  Em- 


THE  BYZANTINES.  12$ 

pire  that  the  Hellenic  world  which  exists  to-day, 
the  New,  the  Christian  Hellas,  was  formed. 
The  decline  and  fall  of  the  Greeks  were  not  due 
to  any  fault  in  the  people.  They  lacked  no 
quality  which  renders  states  great.  They  met 
the  attacks  from  without  manfully  so  long  as  the 
empire  had  sufficient  strength  left  to  stand. 
The  empire  fell  at  last,  exhausted,  conquered, 
but  not  dishonored;  it  fell  like  a  soldier  who 
dies  on. the  field  of  battle,  with  his  sword  in  his 
hand  and  his  face  to  the  enemy. 

Despite  the  many  wars  with  their  alarming 
situations  and  their  dangers,  Constantinople 
studied,  worked,  and  continued  industrious.  In 
the  midst  of  attacks  by  barbarians  she  preserved 
the  traditions  of  the  culture  of  Athens  and  Rome 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  European  Renais- 
sance. 

The  fine  arts  developed,  as  we  all  know,  with 
great  fecundity :  the  Byzantines  created  a  style 
of  art  which  is  known  by  their  name.  It  is 
necessary  to  mention  only  the  church  of  St. 
Sophia  which  has  served  as  a  model  for  church 
edifices  in  Italy  and  Russia.  The  predecessors 
and  the  teachers  of  Raphael  were  imitators, 
copyists  of  the  Byzantines. 

In  Constantinople,  says  Finlay,  manners  were 


126      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

milder,   more    Christianlike,    more   chaste    than 
those  of  the  contemporary  Occident. 

"The  Byzantines,"  says  Bikelas,  "have,  during 
peace  and  war,  virtues  which  would  have  been 
ornamental  even  to  old  Greece.  In  rendering 
justice  to  these  virtues  which  have  been  calum- 
niated, in  revenging  their  memory  which  has  been 
insulted,  we  must  confess  that  their  noble  deeds 
never  will  inflame  our  hearts  to  the  same  degree 
as  will  the  deeds  of  Marathon  and  Plataia ;  our 
admiration  for  the  Byzantine  heroes  and  sages 
will  never  be  that  felt  for  the  great  men  of  an- 
tique Hellas.  Is  it  because  the  Parthenon  is 
more  beautiful  than  St.  Sophia,  or  because 
Athens  was  the  great  place  of  JEschylus  and 
Thucydides,  while  Byzantium  gave  us  only 
Photius  ?  No ;  it  is  because  Byzantium  does  not 
elevate  our  soul,  does  not  inflame  our  hearts  to 
the  same  degree  as  ancient  Greece,  because  it 
had  not  the  double  love  for  country  and  liberty ^ 
Herein  lies  the  difference  between  the  two 
worlds  which  otherwise  present  so  many  anal- 
ogies. Greece  of  to-day  always  has  its  eyes 
upon  the  glory  of  the  Greece  of  the  past.  The 
national  song  does  not  invoke  Constantine  the 
Great,  nor  Heraclius,  nor  the  Komnenes,  nor  the 
last  of  the  Palseologes:    the  Greeks  bend  their 


THE   BYZANTINES.  1 2/ 

knees  before  the  memory  of  the  three  hundred 
of  Thermopylae  when  they  celebrate  their  liberty. 

'Att'  ra  KdKKoka  '6ya?i/j,evj} 
Twv  'E/l/l//v6>v  TO.  iepd 
Kat  'oav  Trptora  avdpeLUfievrj 
Xatpe  tj  !  x^^P'  '^^£v6epia 

O  liberty,  descended  from  the  Greeks  of  old 
and  on  fire  with  the  ancient  valor,  hail,  all  hail! 

And  after  all,  alongside  of  the  incomparable 
glory  of  the  old  Hellas,  there  lives  in  the  grate- 
ful memory  of  Hellas  to-day  the  glory  of  the 
Byzantine  Greeks.  The  Greece  of  Heraclius,  of 
Nikophorus,  and  of  the  Komnenes  was  in  a  more 
difficult  situation  than  the  Greece  of  Miltiades 
and  Themistocles.  After  Marathon  and  Salamis 
Athens  was  delivered  from  the  barbarians. 
Constantinople  during  ten  centuries  was  con- 
stantly under  arms  against  invasions.  A  Xerxes 
more  terrible  than  the  one  of  Herodotus  ap- 
peared in  every  century.  Athens  could  not 
have  erected  the  Parthenon,  built  the  long  walls, 
applauded  Sophocles,  heard  Pericles  and  Demos- 
thenes, if  Plataia  had  not  established  security 
for  two  centuries.  The  Greeks  of  to-day  are 
bound  to  feel  affection  for  the  old  empire.  It 
fought  long,  and  did  not  fall  without  glory.  The 
devotion  of  the  last  of  the  Palaeologs — in  our  time 


128     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

emperors  do  not  sacrifice  themselves — stands 
well  alongside  of  the  devotion  of  Leonidas.  The 
poets  of  the  hymn  of  liberty  may  well  reverence 
the  memory  of  the  three  hundred  who  died  for 
liberty,  but  the  poets  of  the  Greek  people  have 
by  no  means  forgotten  Constantine  Dragazes,  the 
autocrat  who  sacrificed  himself  for  his  country. 

Suddenly  at  two  o'clock  during  the  night  of 
Tuesday,  the  29th  of  May,  1453,  began  the  last 
fight,  the  death  agony  of  the  Byzantines.  While 
throughout  the  city  the  alarm  bells  of  all  the 
churches  were  ringing,  and  while  in  the  churches 
themselves  the  women  lay  prostrate  before  the 
altars  in  fervent  prayers  of  despair,  the  Greeks 
and  Latins  succeeded  fortunately  in  warding  off 
the  first  charge  of  the  Osmans.  The  second  at- 
tack, accompanied  by  the  sound  of  kettle-drums 
and  directed  against  the  Romanos  gate  where 
the  emperor  himself  was  commanding,  was  like- 
wise repulsed,  with  heavy  losses  to  the  Osmans. 
Futile  also  were  the  efforts  of  the  marine  soldiers 
along  the  docks.  Then  at  last  Mohammed  or- 
dered his  best  troops,  the  janizaries,  to  the  attack 
which  was  preceded  and  sustained  by  the  terrific 
fire  of  the  largest  pieces  of  artillery.  Still  the 
besieged  stood  firm,  although  the  combat  repeat- 


THE  BYZANTINES.  1 29 

edly  wavered  dangerously,  and  the  number  of 
Turks  in  action  was  seventy  thousand.  The 
Turks  had  already  sustained  severe  losses,  when 
the  brave  Guistiniani  was  seriously  wounded  by 
an  arrow.  The  pain  caused  him  to  lose  his  pres- 
ence of  mind ;  he  ran  toward  the  port  to  have  his 
wound  dressed  on  board  of  his  vessel.  The  con- 
fusion among  the  Byzantines  brought  on  by  this 
casualty  was  at  once  taken  advantage  of  by  Saga- 
nos  Pasha ;  it  enabled  a  number  of  the  janizaries 
to  gain  a  foothold  upon  the  top  of  the  walls,  and 
while  a  fierce  engagement  with  these  janizaries 
was  fought  upon  the  wall,  a  Turkish  company 
entered  through  a  small  gate  south  of  the  Heb- 
domon,  which  port  had  been  opened  on  May 
27th  for  the  purpose  of  a  sortie,  and  to  the  great 
misfortune  of  the  Byzantines  had  not  been  locked 
again.  They  marched  upon  the  walls  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  gate  of  Adrianople,  where  they 
were  soon  reinforced  by  an  additional  force  which 
had  climbed  up  by  the  aid  of  ladders,  and  finally 
attacked  the  emperor  from  the  rear.  Now  all 
was  lost.  After  the  Turkish  cannon  at  the  point 
of  the  principal  engagement  near  the  Romanes 
and  Charsios  gates  had  made  a  large  breach  in 
the  walls,  the  victors  entered  the  city  without  op- 
position.    Constantine,  fighting  like  an  ordinary 


130      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

soldier,  sought  and  found  the  death  of  a  hero. 
The  Turks  for  a  long  time  massacred  the  Byzan- 
tine soldiers  until,  convinced  of  the  numerical 
weakness  of  their  adversaries,  they  stayed  the 
slaughter  in  order  to  commence  plundering. 

A  most  mournful  fate  befell  the  many  thou- 
sands of  both  sexes,  of  all  ages,  of  all  ranks  of 
society,  who  from  six  to  seven  in  the  morning, 
since  the  first  fatal  news  had  been  spread  in  the 
city,  had  fled  into  the  church  of  St.  Sophia.  The 
victors  broke  in  the  doors  with  axes,  violated 
boys  and  virgins,  broke  and  soiled  the  sacred 
vessels,  ate  and  drank,  fed  their  horses,  and  com- 
menced to  destroy  the  beauty  of  the  marvellous 
edifice. 

The  corpse  of  the  Emperor  Constantine  was 
searched  for  and  recognized.  The  Sultan  or- 
dered its  head  cut  off  and  exposed  on  the  point 
of  a  lance  until  evening.  The  trunk  was  per- 
mitted to  be  interred  with  imperial  honors. 
Near  the  Wifa  Mosque,  covered  by  a  stone  with- 
out inscription  under  a  laurel  tree,  is  the  tomb 
of  the  noble  hero;  above  it  a  simple  lamp,  sup- 
plied with  oil,  is  lit  every  evening. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE. 

The  monstrous  wrong  had  been  accomplished ; 
the  old  magnificent  city  of  Constantine  the  Great 
was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  ruler  of  the  Os- 
mans.  A  history  of  eleven  centuries  had 
reached  its  termination.  The  significance  of 
the  increase  of  power  of  the  Turks  was  soon  ap- 
parent to  the  Christian  nations  of  the  West,  who 
had  permitted  the  last  Emperor  of  Byzantium 
to  perish. 

As  the  history  of  the  Hellenes  during  the  last 
century  of  the  Roman  republic  belongs  to  the 
dark  leaves  in  the  annals  of  the  Greek  people, 
exactly  so  does  the  history  of  this  nation  from 
the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  fearful  Moham- 
med II.  present  for  centuries  a  dark  picture,  only 
scantily  illuminated  here  and  there  by  a  flash  of 
light. 

We  have  to  place  ourselves  in  a  certain  far- 
distant  position  to  obtain  a  historical  perspective 
in  order  to  see  how  the  subjection  and  the  gath- 
ering of  the  whole  Greek  nation  under  Osmanic 


132      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

government  secured  for  the  Greeks  the  possi- 
bility of  remaining  a  united  nation  until  this 
day.  The  union  under  the  Osmanic  rule  was 
due  in  the  first  instance  to  the  gradual  de- 
struction of  all  the  Prankish  rulers  on  Greek  soil, 
and  in  the  second  place  to  the  misrule  of  the 
Turks,  which,  being  to  all  Greeks  worse  than 
death,  made  them  risk  their  lives  in  a  struggle 
for  liberty. 

Western  Europe  for  centuries  forgot  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Greek  people;  not  so  the  Osmans. 

The  unfortunate  Greek  people,  for  centuries 
excluded  from  all  active  participation  in  politics, 
living  only  as  members  of  their  respective  com- 
munities, did  not  enjoy  the  modest  satisfaction 
of  being  enabled  to  accumulate  wealth. 

The  Turks  had  only  one  thing  in  view  in  re- 
gard to  the  Greeks:  to  govern  and  to  tax  them. 
According  to  Turkish  law  the  Sultan  was  the 
real  owner  of  all  conquered  soil.  The  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  Greek  peasants  were  therefore  sim- 
ply tenants  or  common  laborers. 

The  Greeks  had  to  pay  the  kharadsh ;  further- 
more they  were  obliged  to  contribute  a  tenth, 
which  in  reality  meant  often  as  much  as  a  fifth 
or  even  a  third,  of  all  that  they  raised  or  produced 
in  natura;  they  had  also  to  pay  rent,  and  if  this 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       1 33 

were  not  enough,  they  had  to  do  soccage  service, 
and  to  all  this  was  added  the  most  infernal  blood 
tribute  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently. 

In  exhausting  the  conquered  land  by  extortion 
the  Turks  acted  like  animals  with  thoughtless 
instinct;  they  ate  what  they  found  without 
thinking  of  the  next  day.  "Wherever,"  ob- 
serves the  English  eye-witness  Eton,  "the  Turks 
have  established  their  dominion,  science  and 
commerce,  the  comforts  and  the  knowledge  of 
mankind  have  alike  decayed.  Not  only  have 
they  exemplified  barbarism  and  intolerance  in 
their  own  conduct,  but  they  have  extinguished 
the  flame  of  genius  and  knowledge  in  others." 
Higher  aims  in  regard  to  literature,  science,  and^ 
art  did  not  exist  among  the  Turks,  not  even 
music  was  cultivated.  Since  the  Turks  are  polyg- 
amists  they  are  without  that  institution,  monog- 
amy, which  more  than  anything  else  is  apt  to 
coerce  animal  passion  in  man.  Even  those  who 
understand  the  Turks  best  and  judged  them 
mildly  had  to  confess  that  the  lower  classes  were 
ignorant,  lazy,  fanatic;  that  the  upper  classes, 
as  a  rule,  appeared  dull  from  debauch,  most  of 
the  time  brooding  and  smoking  after  exhaustion 
from  sensual  excesses. 

Turkish    government    means    destruction    of 


134     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

public  welfare  and  prosperity.  Bikelas  writes: 
"In  the  year  1204,  when  Villehardouin  and  his 
fellow-comrades  came  into  contact  with  the  East, 
their  first  emotion  was  one  of  amazement  at  the 
spectacle  of  such  marvellous  wealth  and  splen- 
dor, but  since  those  days  the  Turks  have  been 
allowed  to  effect  a  complete  change.  The  trav- 
ellers who  visited  the  Turks  at  the  end  of  the  last 
or  the  beginning  of  this  century  are  unanimous 
in  recording  with  horror  the  wretchedness  which 
was  coextensive  with  the  Ottoman  Empire. 
The  inhabitants  had  learned  by  experience  not 
even  to  till  the  ground  beyond  what  was  neces- 
sary for  the  bare  support  of  life."  "They  have 
no  courage,"  says  the  French  traveller  Savary, 
"  no  spirit.  And  why  should  they  attempt  any- 
thing? If  they  took  to  sowing  or  planting,  it 
would  lead  to  the  idea  that  they  were  rich,  and 
so  inevitably  bring  down  the  aga  to  devour 
whatever  they  possess."  The  cultivators  of  the 
soil  and  the  manufacturers,  all  exposed  to  the 
extortions  from  public  officers,  lived  in  constant 
anxiety  and  fear.  For  this  reason  most  fertile 
land,  perhaps  nine-tenths  of  all,  remained  uncul- 
tivated. Where  the  densest  population  might 
have  lived  in  abundance,  the  smallest  one  had  to 
contend  with  famine.     There  was  no  systematic 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER  TURKISH   BONDAGE.       1 35 

administration,  no  protection  against  conflagra- 
tion, against  inundation,  there  was  no  provision 
made  for  good  roads,  there  existed  no  precaution 
against  the  plague  and  other  epidemics.  Foreign 
relations  grew  less  and  less  "on  account,"  as  is 
expressed  by  M.  Chaptal,  "of  the  insecurity 
which  reigns  inland,  where  every  species  of  dis- 
order was  rampant."  "Our  own  French  mer- 
chants," says  M.  Juchereau  de  Saint-Denis, 
"  were  at  one  with  those  of  Holland  and  England 
in  complaining,  years  before  our  revolution, 
that  trade  in  the  Levant  had  ceased  to  offer 
the  same  advantages  as  formerly,  and  they  attrib- 
uted the  miserable  prices  offered  for  their  own 
merchandise  and  the  diminution  of  their  profits 
to  the  increasing  poverty  and  depopulation  of 
the  Turkish  Empire."  The  plain  of  Elis  had 
become  an  uncultivated  wilderness.  "The  ex- 
ecrable government  of  the  Morea,"  says  the 
English  witness  Leake,  "  added  to  local  tyranny, 
has  reduced  the  Greeks  of  Gastouni  to  such  dis- 
tress that  all  the  cultivated  land  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  Turks,  and  the  Greek  population 
have  become  cattle  feeders  or  mere  laborers  for 
the  Turkish  possessors  of  the  soil." 

With  the  cessation  of  cultivation  and  produc- 
tion ceased  also  the  communication  with  the  rest 


136     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING  GREEK. 

of  the  world.  Greece  became  unknown.  From 
time  to  time  travellers  like  those  already  quoted 
,  would  venture  to  visit  Hellas  to  see  what  monu- 
ments of  her  past  greatness  might  still  survive. 
Some  of  these  men  were  moved  by  sympathy; 
others  reproached  the  unfortunate  Greeks, 
cruelly  and  unjustly,  as  being  unworthy  of  the 
soil  of  classical  Hellas.  And  even  this  very  day 
those  latter  sentiments  run  riot  in  the  heads  of  a 
large  class  of  ignorant  and  malevolent  people, 
and  in  anti-Hellenic  literature.  "  When  I  was 
at  Gastouni,"  says  M.  Bartholdy,  "I  overheard 
a  conversation  between  an  English  traveller, 
a  Greek  monk,  and  our  host,  who  was  the  doctor 
in  the  place.  The  churchman  and  the  physi- 
cian complained  bitterly  of  the  Turkish  yoke. 
'God,'  said  the  Englishman,  'has  deprived  the 
Hellenes  of  their  freedom  because  they  did  not 
deserve  to  have  it.'"  "The  town  of  Dhivri," 
says  the  traveller  Leake,  already  quoted,  "oc- 
cupies a  large  space,  the  houses  to  the  num- 
ber of  three  hundred  being  dispersed  in  clusters 
over  the  side  of  the  hills,  but  a  great  part  of 
them  are  uninhabited.  This  is  chiefly  owing  to 
the  angaria  of  the  Lalliotes,  who  come  here  and 
force  the  poor  Greeks  to  carry  straw,  wood,  with- 
out payment."     The  inhabitants  of  Monembasia 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       1 37 

and  its  neighborhood  had  endeavored  to  save 
themselves  by  emigrating  to  Hydra,  to  Spezzia, 
and  even  to  Asia  Minor.  Different  travellers  tell 
of  deserted  villages  and  districts  in  Morea. 
Greeks  went  to  Asia  Minor  where  they  were  sub- 
ject only  to  the  land  tax  and  the  kharadsh.  The 
poor  wretches  by  nomadic  movements,  as  Bikelas 
says,  "  strove  to  find  some  amelioration  in  their 
condition  by  passing  from  one  part  to  another  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire. "  This  was  merely  like  the 
action  of  a  sick  man  who  seeks  to  find  relief  by 
thrusting  his  aching  limbs  first  into  one  and  then 
into  another  part  of  his  bed  of  pain.  "The  de- 
population of  some  provinces,"  testifies  M.  Ju- 
chereau  de  Saint-Denis,  "has  been  so  marked 
that,  out  of  twenty  flourishing  villages  which  for- 
merly existed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Aleppo,  it 
is  now  scarcely  possible  to  reckon  four  or  five. 
The  tyj-anny  of  the  provincial  governors  drives 
the  peasants  to  seek  refuge  in  the  town,  and,  once 
they  are  there,  starvation  soon  decimates  them." 
Wealth,  whether  honestly  or  dishonestly  accu- 
mulated, was  a  danger  to  its  possessor;  even  the 
Sultan  would  lie  in  wait,  and  still  much  more 
the  pashas  who  had  bought  their  offices  and 
acted  in  their  provinces  like  hungry  wolves. 
All  offices  had  to  be  bought;    even  the  Sultan 


138      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

sold  the  highest  offices  to  the  highest  bidder. 
Frederick  the  Great  said  the  Turks  would  sell 
even  their  prophets  for  money.  Felix  Beaujour, 
a  traveller,  says :  "  The  whole  divan  is  for  sale,  if 
only  the  intending  purchaser  has  money  enough 
wherewith  to  buy  it ;  and  this  is  the  reason  why 
the  beys  and  the  agas  utilize  the  provinces  to 
obtain  the  means  of  saving  themselves  from  the 
bowstring  and  acquiring  appointments  to  the 
office  of  pasha.  They  buy  their  appointments 
at  Constantinople,  where  there  is  nothing  which 
is  not  for  sale,  and  they  recoup  themselves  any 
way  they  can.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire  the  governors  work  an  inex- 
haustible mine  of  fines."  This  system  extin- 
guished all  honor  in  public  offices,  and  encour- 
aged extortion.  Judges  as  well  as  witnesses 
could  be  bought  and  bribed.  A  man  who  might 
have  been  honest  in  private  life  could  not  help 
being  tainted  with  corruption  and  dishonesty 
when  connected  with  the  public  service.  The 
sense  of  duty  and  right  upon  which  all  public 
welfare  depends  was  wanting. 

It  was  the  habit  of  the  pasha  to  make  a  peri- 
odical round  of  all  the  towns  and  villages  under 
his  jurisdiction,  in  order  to  receive  the  "volun- 
tary offerings'*  of  his  wretched  subjects.     When 


THE   GREEKS    UNDER  TURKISH   BONDAGE.       1 39 

"AH,"  says  Leake,  "makes  a  tour  round  this 
part  of  his  territory,  he  never  fails  to  visit  this 
place.  The  archons  generally  meet  him  in  the 
plains,  and  offer  perhaps  twenty  purses,  beg- 
ging him  not  to  come  into  town.  He  receives 
the  present  with  smiles,  promises  that  he  will 
not  put  his  friends  to  inconvenience ;  afterward 
comes  a  little  nearer,  informs  them  that  no  pro- 
visions are  to  be  had  in  the  plain,  and,  after 
being  supplied  upon  the  promise  of  not  entering 
the  town,  quarters  on  them,  in  the  course  of  a 
day  or  two  more,  with  his  whole  suite,  perhaps  for 
several  days,  and  he  does  not  retire  until  he  has 
received  a  fresh  donation.  In  these  rounds  he 
expects  something  from  every  village,  and  will  ac- 
cept the  smallest  offerings  from  individuals.  His 
sons,  in  travelling,  do  not  fail  to  follow  so  great 
an  example.  .  .  .  Neither  pestilence  nor  famine 
is  more  dreaded  by  the  poor  natives  than  the 
arrival  of  these  little  scraps  of  coarse  paper 
scrawled  with  a  few  Greek  characters,  and 
stamped  with  the  well-known  seal  which  makes 
Epirus,  Thessaly,  and  Macedonia  tremble." 

The  people  of  Galaxidi  had  taken  flight  be- 
cause Ali  Pasha  wished  to  compel  them  to  serve 
as  sailors  on  board  the  fleet  which  he  was  equip- 
ping. 


I40      CHRISTIAN    GREECE    AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

"The  present  pasha  of  the  Morea,"  says 
Leake,  "is  said  to  have  paid  the  Porte  four  hun- 
dred purses  for  his  appointment  for  one  year, 
and  he  will  probably  squeeze  one  thousand  out 
of  the  poor  province.  Vanli  Pasha,  who  was 
removed  last  year  to  Candia,  paid  six  hunderd 
purses  for  two  years,  and  yet  greatly  enriched 
himself.  The  Morea  has  the  character  of  being 
the  most  profitable  pashalik  in  the  empire." 

In  the  report  which  Capodistria  addressed  in 
1828  to  the  representatives  of  the  powers  in 
answer  to  the  questions  which  they  had  put  to 
his  Government,  he  gives  some  extremely  inter- 
esting information  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
pashas  were  in  the  habit  of  exercising  their 
powers:  "How  was  it  possible,"  he  asks,  "to 
look  for  just  and  enlightened  administration 
from  a  pasha  who  but  very  shortly  before  attain- 
ing that  dignity  had  been  employed  as  a  slaugh- 
terman, and  who  is  now  simply  the  ignorant 
nominee  of  an  absolute  despot?  .  .  .  No  man 
dared  to  open  his  mouth  in  the  presence  of  the 
pasha  of  the  Peloponnesos.  That  pasha  had 
the  power  of  life  and  death  over  his  subjects,  and 
they  trembled  whenever  they  had  to  go  near  his 
seraglio.  Fear  seized  them  before  even  they 
found  themselves  within  sight  of  the  despot,  or 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER  TURKISH   BONDAGE.       14I 

within  earshot  of  the  terrors  of  his  voice.  At 
the  gate  of  his  palace  were  always  to  be  found 
ready  waiting  a  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers 
under  full  arms,  an  itch-aga,  and  an  execu- 
tioner. It  needed  only  a  significant  move  of  his 
head  to  cause  any  one  of  his  petitioners  to  be  led 
out  to  die." 

"The  Ottoman  Empire,"  says  Pouqueville,  "is 
the  empire  of  woe.  It  is  not  like  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  The  people  who  live  in 
it  are  at  once  ferocious  and  apathetic,  and  are 
destitute  of  the  slightest  feeling  for  the  public 
interest.  From  Constantinople  to  the  banks  of 
the  Euphratus,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Bos- 
phorus  to  Cattaro,  the  towns  are  cesspools  full  of 
dung  and  filth,  the  villages  are  either  dens  of 
wild  beasts  or  deserted.  The  exclusive  sub- 
jects of  conversation  are  pestilence,  conflagra- 
tions, epidemics,  and  famines.  The  gates  of 
the  great  cities  are  hidden  by  groups  of  gibbets, 
and  towers  loaded  with  human  skulls.  The 
roads  traversed  by  the  local  governors  are  lined 
with  gory  heads,  stakes  for  impalement,  and 
other  instruments  of  death.  The  traveller  meets 
no  one  who  is  not  clad  in  the  livery  of  destitu- 
tion. There  is  no  police,  no  public  order,  no 
rest,  and  no  safety  for  life  and  property.     The 


142      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

gentler  virtues  are  unknown  in  this  country.  If 
a  man  has  money  he  buries  it,  and  if  he  has  any 
valuable  objects  he  hides  them  in  the  depths  of 
his  harem.  If  he  wishes  to  escape  suspicion  he 
must  avoid  living  with  the  appearance  of  being 
in  easy  circumstances." 

Savary  relates  an  anecdote  illustrating  the 
treatment  the  Greeks  received  in  their  own  coun- 
try. The  circumstances  occurred  in  1780. 
With  the  exception  of  the  archbishop  and  of 
Europeans,  no  Christian  has  the  right  to  ride 
inside  a  town.  The  Bishop  of  Canea  took  it  in 
his  head  to  disregard  this  tyrannical  regulation. 
One  evening,  when  he  was  returning  from  the 
country  along  with  several  monks,  he  did  not 
dismount,  but  passed  through  and  rode  quickly 
up  to  his  own  house.  The  janizaries  who  were 
on  guard  at  the  gate  looked  on  this  action  as  an 
insult.  The  next  day  they  roused  the  troops, 
and  it  was  determined  to  burn  the  bishop  and 
the  priests.  The  mob,  roaring  curses,  were  al- 
ready carrying  combustibles  to  the  bishop's 
house,  and  its  inhabitants  could  not  have  escaped 
the  horrible  fate  to  which  they  were  destined, 
had  not  the  pasha,  warned  in  time,  issued  a  pro- 
clamation, by  which  any  Greek,  of  what  class 
soever,  was  forbidden  to  sleep  within  the  walls 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER  TURKISH   BONDAGE.       I43 

of  Canea.  This  prohibition  was  rigorously  en- 
forced, and  every  evening  these  wretched 
slaves  might  be  seen  slinking  out  of  the  gates  of 
Rettimo,  and  retiring  for  the  night  into  the 
fields.  This  state  lasted  for  two  months,  but 
money  is  here  the  cure  for  all  evils.  The  Cre- 
tans collected  their  resources  together,  and  by  a 
very  heavy  bribe,  obtained  the  revocation  of  the 
verdict.  The  pride  of  their  bishop  cost  them 
dear. 

Eton  relates:  "The  insulting  distinction  of 
Christian  and  Mohammedan  is  carried  to  so  great 
a  length  that  even  the  minutiae  of  dress  are  ren- 
dered subjects  of  restriction.  A  Christian  must 
wear  clothes  and  head-dresses  of  dark  colors 
only,  and  such  as  Turks  never  wear,  with  slip- 
pers of  black  leather,  and  must  paint  his  house 
black  or  dark  brown.  The  least  violation  of 
these  frivolous  and  disgusting  regulations  is 
punished  with  death." 

A  Christian  on  horseback  had  to  dismount  as 
soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of  a  Turk.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  Sublime  Porte  invented  with 
great  ingenuity  infinite  humiliations  and  vexa- 
tions for  the  Greeks,  for  objects  of  taxation. 
Churches  could  not  be  built  nor  repaired  without 
conditional  payment  of  large  sums  to  a  mosque 


144      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

at    Constantinople;     sometimes    the    sums    de- 
manded were  exorbitant. 

If  a  neighborhood  happened  to  possess  any 
natural  peculiarity,  this  feature  was  taken  advan- 
tage of  for  the  benefit  of  the  Turks.  There  is  a 
spot  near  Kandelion  in  the  Peloponnesus,  where 
the  snow  lies  long.  "The  mountain  on  the 
left,"  says  Leake,  "has  a  remarkable  cavern,  or 
a  shady  hollow,  an  unlucky  circumstance  for  the 
poor  Kandeliotes,  who  are  obliged  to  supply  the 
serail  at  Tripoliza  from  it,  and  carry  the  snow 
there  at  their  own  expense." 

j  Any  Turk  could  with  impunity  maltreat  a 
Ichristian.  Colonel  Leake  saw  a  Turk  kill  a 
Greek  peasant  at  the  gate  of  Larissa,  because  the 
Christian  had  an  ass  loaded  with  charcoal,  which 
he  wished  to  carry  for  sale  to  the  market  place 
in  hopes  of  a  more  certain,  as  well  as  a  higher 
price  for  it,  instead  of  letting  the  Turks  have  it. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  says  Bikelas,  in 
whose  lectures  all  the  reports  of  travellers  here 
enumerated  are  collected,  that  the  Cadi  declared 
the  murderer  guiltless.  The  only  chance  of  a 
conviction  would  have  been,  if  the  family  of  the 
'victim  had  had  more  money.  However,  it  was 
not  held  to  be  a  crime  for  a  Turk  to  murder  a 
Christian. 


THE    GREEKS   UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       145 

Christians  were  not  admitted  as  witnesses 
against  Turks.  If,  however,  Christians  were 
wealthy  they  could  buy  Turkish  witnesses,  who 
were  never  wanting  to  call  God  to  witness  to  any-  ^ 
thing  so  long  as  a  suitor  was  able  and  willing  to 
pay  them  to  do  so.  If  the  suitor  possessed 
the  funds  which  were  needed  for  securing  the 
favor  of  the  judge  his  case  stood  very  well. 

We  will  not  go  into  details  in  regard  to  Turk- 
ish jurisprudence,  which  was  obscure  and  often 
inconsistent.  Capodistria  has  given  an  account 
of  it  in  the  statement  already  mentioned.  "  It 
may  be  remarked,"  says  Eton,  "that  there  is  not 
one  instance  of  a  fetra  which  declares  the  mur- 
der of  a  Christian  to  be  contrary  to  the  faith; 
or  of  any  argument  drawn  from  justice  or  re- 
ligion, used  to  dissuade  the  sultans  from  perpe- 
trating such  an  enormity.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,"  remarks  the  same  writer,  "a  Christian \ 
may  not  kill  a  Mohammedan  even  in  self-defence ; 
if  a  Christian  only  strikes  a  Mohammedan,  he  is 
most  commonly  put  to  death  on  the  spot,  or  at 
least  ruined  by  fines  and  severely  bastinadoed ;  if 
he  strikes,  though  by  accident,  a  sheriff  (emil  in 
Turkish,  i.e.,  a  descendant  of  Mohammed,  who 
wears  green  turbans),  of  whom  there  are  thou- 
sands in  the  cities,  it  is  death  without  remission." 


146      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

We  learn  from  Olivier  that  in  Crete  the  Turks 
are  more  than  anywhere  else  given,  upon  the 
slightest  pretext,  to  either  killing  a  Greek  with 
their  own  hands  or  sending  him  to  execution. 

The  most  convenient  medium  for  the  extor- 
tions of  the  Turkish  governors  was  the  khar- 
adsh.  Every  ray  a,  says  Eton,  that  is,  every 
subject  who  is  not  of  the  Mohammedan  reli- 
gion) is  allowed  only  the  cruel  alternative  of 
death  or  tribute,  capitation  tax.  The  very  words 
of  the  formula  given  to  the  Christian  subjects 
paying  the  kharadsh,  or  capitation  tax,  import 
that  the  sum  of  money  received  is  taken  as  a  com- 
pensation for  being  permitted  to  wear  their  heads 
that.year. 

(  Mohammedan  jurisprudence  recognizes  be- 
tween Mohammedan  and  non-Mohammedan  na- 
tions but  one  category  of  relations — that  of 
jdjehad  or  holy  war.  By  the  sacred  law  all 
giaours  (Christian  dogs)  are  under  the  ban. 
Yet,  although  devoted  to  destruction,  they  may 
be  spared  for  a  season,  whenever  this  is  to  the 
advantage  of  Islam.  That  these  principles  of 
law  are  in  force  in  Turkey  to  this  very  day  is 
fully  shown  in  a  most  scientific  article  by  Pro- 
fessor A.  D.  F.  Hamlin  which  appeared  in  The 
Forum,    July,    1897.      This   paper   of   Professor 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER  TURKISH   BONDAGE.       147 

Hamlin  furnishes  conclusive  evidence  that  the 
above  reports  from  travellers  in  Greece  during 
the  time  of  the  Turkish  bondage  are  by  no 
means  exaggerations  or  inventions. 

It  is  one  of  the  strangest  occurrences  that  books 
are  published  and  journals  appear  which  deny  or 
make  little  of  the  ill  treatment  the  Greeks  were 
subjected  to  by  the  Turks.  Such  whitewashing 
was  done  for  political  ends  during  the  time  of  the 
Greek  war  of  independence,  and  many  writers 
of  to-day  either  do  not  or  will  not  search  for  his- 
torical truth. 

The  nominal  figure,  says  Bikelas,  of  the  poll 
tax  was  not  high.  But  the  collectors,  to  whom 
the  collection  was  sublet,  always  found  means 
for  extorting  from  the  taxpayers  at  least  double 
the  sum  which  found  its  way  into  the  treasury. 
The  fifty  per  cent  went,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
into  their  own  pockets.  Even  children  of  eight 
years  in  towns  and  five  in  the  country  were  as- 
sessed. If,  says  Beaujour,  the  father  of  a  little 
Greek  raises  any  dispute  as  to  his  exact  age,  the 
tax  gatherers  measure  the  child's  head  with  a 
cord,  which  is  made  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  a  stand- 
ard, and,  as  they  can  make  the  cord  what 
length  they  like,  the  father  can  always  be  proved 
in  the  wrong. 


148      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

In  the  islands  it  was  in  vain  that  inhabitants 
fled  to  their  mountains  when  the  tax  collectors 
came.  The  Turks  seized  the  elders  and  put 
them  to  the  bastinado  until  their  wives  had 
brought  them  their  trinkets  and  those  of  the 
neighboring  women.  It  was,  moreover,  very 
often  the  case  that  the  Turks,  after  appropriat- 
ing the  jewelry,  threw  husband,  wife,  and  child 
into  slavery.  Besides,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
isles  were  subject  to  a  blood  tax,  conscription  of 
young  men  for  service  in  the  Turkish  fleet. 

Yet  the  conscription,  writes  Bikelas,  of  sea- 
faring lads  was  as  nothing  in  comparison  with 
that  indescribable  blood  tax,  the  conscription  of 
little  children,  the  memory  of  which  haunts  every 
Greek  home  like  the  presence  of  a  devil.  Every 
five  years  came  the  moment  when  the  Greek 
nation  received  a  stab  into  the  heart,  when  a 
tenth  in  human  flesh  was  taken,  a  tenth  which 
deprived  the  people  of  the  hope  based  on  the 
blossom  of  the  manly  youth,  and  which  desolated 
the  land  with  most  atrocious  certainty.  Small  de- 
tachments of  Turkish  soldiers,  each  detachment 
commanded  by  a  captain  and  each  armed  with  a 
special  firman,  travelled  through  the  provinces 
from  place  to  place.  When  they  came  the  elders 
of  the  villages  or  towns  gathered  the  inhabitants 


THE   GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       I49 

with  their  sons.  The  Turkish  officer  had  the 
power  to  seize  one-fifth  of  all  the  boys  between 
the  age  of  seven  years  and  puberty  and  to  select 
those  who  were  especially  handsome,  strong,  and 
intelligent  or  otherwise  talented.  The  fathers 
and  mothers  knew  that  the  children  they  lost  were 
lost  to  them  forever,  that  they  would  be  circum- 
cised, become  Mohammedans,  live  and  die  jani- 
zaries. As  for  the  race,  this  tribute  threatened 
its  very  existence,  the  very  hope  of  its  future  was 
turned  against  it,  its  persecutors  forged  from  its 
very  blood  the  instruments  of  their  oppression. 
No  other  enslaved  nation  has  ever  had  to  suffer 
such  torture  as  this. 

With  all  these  historical  facts  before  us,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  understand  how  writers,  as  for  in- 
stance W.  Alison  Phillips  in  a  book  recently 
published  and  entitled  "  The  War  of  Greek  In- 
dependence, 1 82 1  to  1833"  (New  York:  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1897),  can  repeat  statements  like 
the  following,  did  not  the  author  give  us  the  ex- 
planation :  "  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it 
was  the  intolerable  tyranny  of  the  Turk  which 
forced  the  Greeks  into  rebellion."  "In  many 
parts  of  the  Turkish  dominions,  the  cultivators 
of  the  soil  enjoyed  a  prosperity  unknown  to  the 
peasantry  of  some  nations  accounted  more  civil- 


150      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

ized."  He  enumerates  the  books  from  which  he 
has  taken  his  information.  He  has  selected 
just  those  which  were  either  written  in  an  anti- 
Hellenic  spirit  or  which  do  not  contain  the  re- 
searches of  those  historians  of  our  time  who  have 
made  real  scientific  investigations.  Thus,  for 
instance,  he  does  not  or  will  not  know  the 
writings  of  Zinkeisen,  Ross,  Gervinus,  Bikelas, 
and  the  excellent  historian  Hertzberg.  On  the 
other  hand  he  has  used  a  book,  as  he  confesses 
himself,  which  was  issued  by  its  author  as  a 
counterblast  to  the  Armenian  agitation,  intended 
as  an  apology  for  the  Turk  and  an  indictment 
of  the  Oriental  Christian.  Mr.  Phillips,  it  ap- 
pears, has  never  heard  of  the  horrible  blood  tax 
of  which  mention  is  made  above,  or  is  it  that 
he  does  not  wish  to  state  anything  which  is  un- 
favorable to  the  Turk  ?  I  refer  to  this  author  only 
because  his  book  is  the  most  recent  on  hand,  and 
it  will  serve  as  an  example  of  how  some  writers 
treat  modern  Greek  history,  namely,  by  misrep- 
resentation, by  omission,  and  by  repetition  of  old 
intentional  untruths. 

But,  to  return  to  the  horrors  of  the  Turkish 
reign  over  the  Greeks :  The  proverb  says  where 
there  is  much  light  there  is  much  shadow. 
Here  we  may  say,  where  there  is  so  much  shadow 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       151 

there  must  be  some  light.  And  indeed  we  shall 
now  see  the  dawn  of  a  new  glory  of  Hellas, 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  her  great  patriot 
Korais,  and  further  on  when  we  shall  see  how 
their  religion  was  the  most  potent  means  of  sav- 
ing the  Greeks. 

Korais,  in  the  preface  to  his  translation  of 
Beccaria,  expressed  his  conviction  that  no 
remedy  could  heal  the  misfortune  of  the  Greeks 
but  the  light  of  science;  and  he  made  it  his 
task  to  imbue  the  hearts  of  the  youth  of 
Hellas  with  love  for  their  glorious  ancestors, 
the  youth  who  were  destined  to  become  Greece's 
legislators. 

From  the  moment  Korais  read  his  "  Memoire 
sur  r^tat  actuel  de  la  civilisation  dans  la  Grece"  \}wji 
before  a  learned  society  in  Paris  in  1803,  i^i 
order  to  direct  the  eyes  of  the  world  to  the 
regeneration  of  his  country,  until  the  time  of 
the  uprising  of  the  Greeks,  when  he  wrote  his 
political  admonitions,  he  incessantly  reminded 
his  countrymen  of  patriotism,  union,  lawfulness, 
and  perseverance.  He  spoke  to  them  as  citizen, 
as  patriot,  as  philosopher,  in  the  spirit  of  Plutarch, 
who  wrote  his  biographies  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  the  oppressed  Greeks  self-respect  before  ] 
the  Romans.     Korais'  aim  all  the  time  was  to 


152      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

convince  his  countrymen  that  the  political  resur- 
rection of  Greece  had  to  be  prepared  by  means 
of  spiritual  regeneration,  and  as  a  corollary 
that  the  spiritual  regeneration  would  positively 
be  followed  by  political  resurrection.  He  im- 
plored them  in  the  name  of  the  Fatherland,  of 
wife  and  child,  of  God  and  religion,  of  all  that 
was  sacred  to  the  Greeks,  of  the  graves  of  father 
and  mother,  that  the  people  should  rise  against 
the  barbaric  oppressors  who  had  robbed  them 
of  law  and  morals  and  honor,  of  life  and  faith 
and  virtue. 

Korai's'  opinions  and  views  were  shared  by  a 
large  number  of  travellers  who,  as  we  have  re- 
lated already,  visited  Greece  in  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  men  of  excellent  character,  and 
with  sound,  profound  judgment. 

Every  change  in  the  fate  of  the  Greek  people, 
every  political  movement  of  theirs  had  its  reflex  on 
the  rest  of  Europe.  During  the  fifteenth  century, 
as  we  have  seen,  when  the  conquest  of  the  Os- 
mans  forced  Greek  scholars  to  disperse,  they 
united  with  the  humanists,  and  this  memorable 
union  brought  about  a  revival  of  Greek  learning 
in  the  schools  of  the  Western  world.  When  in 
the  seventeenth  century  Crete  was  taken  by  the 
Turks  Europe  regretted  to  see  all  places  of  classi- 


THE    GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       1 53 

cal  Greece  in  the  hands  of  the  barbarians.  When 
in  the  eighteenth  century  Russification  of  Greece 
was  threatening,  it  created  a  shudder  in  the 
world  of  learning  throughout  Europe.  The  many 
publications  of  French  and  English  travellers  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of 
this  century  show  the  deep  interest  the  people 
of  those  countries  had  in  the  fate  of  Greece. 

After  Korais  in  Paris  had  begun  to  make  com- 
parisons between  old  and  new  Hellas,  men  of 
learning  of  all  nationalities  vied  with  each  other 
to  instruct  the  Greeks  in  their  own  history ;  after 
Korais,  the  great  Greek  scholar,  had  visited 
Europe  and  made  himself  heard  there,  men  of 
science  went  to  Greece. 

The  first  in  time  and  the  first  in  value  of  these 
travellers  was  Colonel  William  Martin  Leake,  the 
celebrated  English  archaeologist,  born  in  1777. 
He  came  of  a  high  family,  was  an  officer  of  the 
British  artillery,  and  lived  in  the  Levant,  being 
entrusted  with  a  diplomatic  mission,  from  1804-9. 
In  1823  he  received  his  discharge  as  lieutenant- 
colonel  and  thereafter  devoted  his  time  to  science 
and  the  publication  of  his  writings.  These  publi- 
cations show  profound  critical  judgment,  power  of 
practical  observation,  extensive  learning  in  geog- 
raphy, history,  and  literature,  and  unsurpassed 


154     CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

clearness  of  diction  in  the  description  of  the 
conditions  of  ancient  as  well  as  modern  Hel- 
las. The  rich  information  which  he  had  gained 
by  his  travels  in  almost  all  parts  of  Greece  are 
found  in  his  works:  "Travels  in  the  Morea,"  3 
vols.,  London,  1830;  "Travels  in  Northern 
Greece,"  4  vols.,  Cambridge,  1835  ;  "  Topography 
of  Athens,"  2  vols.,  second  edition,  Cambridge, 
1841;  "Tour  in  Asia  Minor,"  London,  1824; 
"  Memoir  on  the  Island  of  Cos,"  London,  1843; 
"  Greece  at  the  End  of  Twenty-three  Years  of 
Protection,"  London,  185 1.  Having  finished  his 
elaborate  work,  "  Numismatica  Hellenica,"  3 
vols.,  Cambridge,  1854-59,  ^^  ^i^^  January  6th, 
i860,  at  Brighton. 

Other  travellers  were  W.  Gell,  Dodwell,  Doug- 
las, Lord  Guildford,  Macdonald,  Kinneir,  Hol- 
land, Hughes,  Hobhouse,  Byron.  Athens  was 
at  that  time  the  meeting-place  for  strangers,  a 
regular  colony  of  scholars.  The  central  figure 
in  this  society  was  for  a  time  Lord  Guildford, 
whom  the  Greeks  gave  the  name  of  the  greatest, 
the  three  times  greatest  Philhellene.  There 
was  also  the  Austrian  Consul  Gropius,  a  Philhel- 
lene, notwithstanding  the  pronounced  hatred  of 
his  government  toward  the  Greeks.  Further  the 
Frenchman  Fauval,  who  for  a  period  of  thirty 


THE   GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       1 55 

years  was  looked  upon  and  honored  as  the  cus- 
tos  of  the  ruins. 

While  all  the  fearful  destruction  was  going 
on  in  Greece  the  Acropolis  of  Athens  had  not 
been  completely  ruined.  It  appears  as  if  even 
the  barbarians  had  been  charmed  by  the  divine 
art.  The  edifice  would  have  been  much  better 
preserved  if  Christian  hands  had  not  contributed 
to  its  ruin:  the  Venetian  siege  in  1687,  Greek 
defence  during  the  war  of  independence,  and 
English  vandalism.  Lord  Elgin,  recalled  from 
his  post  as  ambassador  to  Constantinople,  passed 
through  Greece,  and  with  Turkish  permission 
deprived  the  temple  of  Minerva  of  its  most 
beautiful  ornament.  All  foreigners,  foremost 
the  Frenchmen,  and  even  many  Englishmen — 
Lord  Byron  more  than  anybody  else — were  furi- 
ous in  their  condemnation  of  such  vandalism. 
The  most  touching  reproach  is  contained  in  the 
Athenian  tale :  When  one  of  the  five  Caryatides 
of  the  pandrosium  was  taken  away  the  other  four 
girls  in  the  evening  cried  after  their  lost  sister 
with  painful  woe,  and  the  one  who  had  been 
taken  away  answered  them  from  the  lower  part 
of  the  city  with  similar  cries  of  pain. 

The  number  of  foreign  guests  increased. 
They  all  were  filled  with  compassion  when  they 


156      CHRISTIAN    GREECE    AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

observed  the  dull  silence  of  slavery,  and  men 
like  Chateaubriand  in  their  writings  awakened 
sympathy,  drawing  the  hearts  from  the  ruins  of 
stone  to  the  living  ruins.  It  is  impossible  to 
understand  how  any  one  could  look  upon  the 
cruel  treatment  of  this  people  without  being 
touched,  how  any  one  could  wander  without 
heartfelt  pity  among  these  oppressed  unfortu- 
nates in  a  country  where  there  is  no  stone  with- 
out a  name,  no  brook,  no  spring  which  has  not 
been  celebrated  in  poetry  or  history,  where 
every  ravine,  every  valley  reminds  one  of 
great  deeds  and  great  men.  Foreign  wanderers 
on  this  soil  voluntarily  hoped  for  and  dreamed 
of  the  resurrection  of  Greece.  To  many  it  ap- 
peared as  if  the  jealousy  of  the  powers,  which 
regarded  Turkey  as  a  necessary  barrier  against 
Russia,  delayed  the  day  of  Greece's  liberty. 
Most  of  them,  however,  agreed  with  Korais  that 
the  intellectual  activity  of  the  Greeks  would  be 
the  forerunner  of  this  complete  resurrection,  and 
necessarily  had  to  be. 

All  travellers,  even  those  who  believed  that 
the  Greeks  were  so  devoid  of  education  and 
virtue  that  they  could  not  understand  and  create 
a  better  political  condition,  deemed  it  cruel  to  see 
them  condemned  to  everlasting  slavery.     Those 


THE   GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       1 5/ 

who  witnessed  the  system  of  outrage  under  which 
the  Greeks  were  suffering  declared  it  shameful 
that  civilized  nations  allowed  the  Turks  contin- 
ually to  oppress  this  people. 

The  American  Revolution  had  established 
principles  of  human  rights  and  spread  democratic 
views. 

The  Greeks  were  found  in  misery,  but  even 
among  the  peasants  who  lived  in  out-of-the-way 
places  there  existed  the  feeling  of  shame  at  their 
ignorance.  They  were  surprised  that  strangers 
interested  themselves  in  their  condition,  ap- 
proaching as  it  did  that  of  animals.  This  spark 
of  self-knowledge  kindled  hope  in  those  who  had 
pitied  them.  For  there  was  none  even  among 
the  most  malevolent  travellers  who  was  not  full 
of  admiration  of  the  activity,  the  desire  for  knowl- 
edge, the  intelligence,  the  individual  self-posses- 
sion, the  soundness  of  judgment,  the  practical 
sense,  the  talent  of  rhetoric  in  this  people. 

For  political  reasons,  perhaps  in  order  to  ac- 
custom the  Greeks  to  bear  their  yoke  the  better, 
to  facilitate  the  control  over  them,  the  Patriarch, 
the  ecclesiastical  head,  was  empowered  to  exer- 
cise civil  jurisdiction  over  the  Christians.  The 
Greeks  were  allowed  the  public  celebration  of 
their  religious  worship,  the  clergy  were  exempt 


158      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

from  the  kharadsli,  and  were  themselves  al- 
lowed to  levy  a  tax  upon  every  Christian  family, 
in  order  to  meet  the  expenses  incidental  to  the 
discharge  of  their  public  functions.  The  clerics 
thus  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Hellenic  people 
showed  themselves  endowed  with  such  an 
amount  of  intelligence  and  of  patriotism  that 
they  upheld  the  standard  of  Hellenism  under 
the  shelter  of  the  Phanar.  The  Greek  Church 
never  lost  the  consciousness  of  her  duty  toward 
the  Greek  nation.  The  Greek  people  owe  to  j  ^idy- 
their  church  the  preservation  of  their  faith,  of  \      ^ 


their  language,  and  of  their  unity;    yes,  we  may 
say,  of   their   race.     The  Greeks  will  never  be 
found  lacking  in  gratitude  toward  their  Church. 
Some  errors  from  which  the  higher  clergy  had    ■ 
not  always  been  free  were  more  than  atoned  for   \ 
by  the  death  of  the  Patriarch,  Gregor  V.,  hanged    \ 
at  the  Phanar  in  1 82 1 ;  by  the  patriotic  devotion 
of  Germanus  of  Patras ;    and  by  the  deeds  of  so     j 
many  other  prelates  who  have  died  as  the  martyrs    / 
or  lived  as  the  confessors  of  the  cause  of  Greek 
national  independence.  J 

Happily  amid  the  degradation  which  the  na- 
tional character  suffered  under  the  influence  of 
the  dangers  and  the  evils  of  slavery,  the  Hellenic    . 
people  never  lost  the  sense  of  their  own  dignity. 


0^ 


THE   GREEKS   UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       1 59 

It  was  this  sense  which  made  them  long  to 
be  free  again.  The  consciousness  of  dishonor 
hurt  them  more  than  the  hardships  of  the  life 
of  slavery.  Proofs  of  this  exist  in  the  writings 
which  Hellenes  published  in  foreign  countries, 
and,  after  the  war  broke  out,  in  documents  in 
which  the  insurgents  made  known  to  Europe 
their  resolve  to  die  sooner  than  endure  again 
what  they  had  suffered  so  long. 

Next  to  the  privileges  granted  to  the  Church  it 
was  the  communal  system  which  was  the  social 
anchor  to  which  Hellenism  owed  its  preserva- 
tion. While  the  patriarchs  supplied  the  ele- 
ments of  political  unity,  the  communal  system 
gave  shape  to  the  home  life  of  the  people. 

The  pressure  of  slavery,  which  weighed  upon 
all  alike,  made  close  the  ties  which  bound  the 
members  of  every  family,  of  every  little  com- 
munity together.  It  is  needless  to  enter  here 
into  the  question  whether  the  communal  system 
which  existed  in  Greece  under  the  Turks  owed 
its  origin  to  classical  or  mediaeval  times.  Fortu- 
nately, it  did  not  occur  to  the  Turks  to  make" any 
attack  upon  this  system.  On  the  contrary,  they 
found  that  it  suited  their  system  of  administra- 
tion very  well.  Just  as  they  made  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  responsible  for  the  whole  race, 


l6o      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

SO  did  they  make  the  elders  responsible  for  the 
whole  of  each  community.  It  facilitated  the  as- 
sessing of  tribute,  the  regulating  of  the  forced 
labor,  and  the  getting  in  the  kharadsh. 

The  communal  system,  by  binding  the  inter- 
ests of  every  individual  to  those  of  institutions 
common  to  all,  by  concerning  all  in  the  local 
government,  in  the  affairs  of  schools  and  hos- 
pitals, prepared  the  people  for  freedom.  The 
Greeks  had  and  have  a  family  life  more  intimate 
and  more  pure  than  many  of  the  people  of  the 
South ;  they  treated  their  women  with  that  respect 
which  is  due  to  their  sex,  and  this  alone  already 
gave  them  the  expectation  for  higher  culture. 

When  the  war  of  independence  broke  out  the 
communal  societies  served  as  centres  of  activity, 
and  also  as  bases  for  the  new  organization  of  the 
country.  The  elders  of  all  kinds,  like  the  prel- 
ates of  the  church  and  the  rest  of  the  Phan- 
ariote  hierarchy,  now  cast  aside  the  signs  of  their 
slavery  and  degradation  and  contended  for  the  |  \J^ 
honor  of  leading  the  national  movement.  '^ 

When  the  war  broke  out  it  became  more  man- 
ifest how  vast  a  gulf  separated  Hellene  from 
Turk.  For  four  centuries  had  they  been  asso- 
ciated in  intimate  contact.  Mutual  familiarity 
had  only  intensified  their  mutual  hatred.     The 


'j^ 


THE    GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       l6l 

Turk  degraded  and  corrupted  the  Greek  popula- 
tion, and  the  Osmanic  government  looked  upon 
all  Hellenes  as  enemies,  and  treated  them  ac- 
cordingly. 

Bikelas  has  shown  in  a  special  treatise  how- 
large  a  part  of  the  awakening  of  the  Greeks  was 
due  to  the  increase  of  education.  In  the  earlier 
periods  of  Ottoman  dominion  education  was  con- 
fined to  a  few  clergy  and  a  still  more  limited 
number  of  laymen.  The  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion was  plunged  into  ignorance.  The  village 
teacher  was  generally  the  parish  priest,  and  the 
few  pupils  whom  he  could  gather  around  him 
acquired  little  more  than  a  mechanical  power  of 
reading  the  Psalms  and  the  ecclesiastical  office 
books.  From  the  seventeenth  century  the  Hel- 
lenes in  the  service  of  the  Porte  rendered  aid  to 
the  Patriarchate  in  commencing  an  extended 
system  of  education,  by  founding  schools,  and 
protecting  the  teachers  and  their  pupils.  The 
true  development,  however,  took  place  toward 
the  end  of  the  last  century.  Then  it  was  that 
the  lowly  teachers  of  the  preceding  generations 
gave  place  to  men  of  learning  with  love  for 
the  classical  glory  of  their  race.  Thenceforth 
many  a  Hellenic  town  had  a  school,  and  pupils 
came  from  the  country  round  about.     In  these 


l62      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

schools,  moreover,  the  works  of  classical  authors 
and  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  no  longer 
formed  the  only  subjects  of  study.  In  them 
were  taught  the  results  of  modern  science,  either 
from  original  works  or  from  translations  of  the 
best  foreign  treatises. 

The  principal  source,  says  Bikelas,  which  sup- 
plied means  to  education,  and  was  the  strongest 
lever  for  raising  the  Greek  people  out  of  the  rut 
of  lethargy  into  which  they  had  fallen,  was  com- 
merce. Commercial  activity  dates  its  revival 
from  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Greeks  of  other  days,  said  M.  Juchereau 
de  Saint-Denis,  crushed  under  the  yoke  of  Os- 
manic  despotism,  used  to  get  European  merchan- 
dise through  the  medium  of  European  agents, 
established  in  the  different  seaports  of  the 
Levant.  Within  the  last  fifty  years,  under  the 
impulse  of  their  constantly  disappointed  hopes 
for  a  brighter  future,  they  have  taken  to  study- 
ing our  language,  imitating  some  of  our  manners 
and  customs,  and  trying  to  gain  some  knowl- 
edge of  Europe  by  personal  observation.  From 
the  epoch  when  he  wrote,  the  commerce  of  the 
Levant  became  mainly  centred  in  the  hands  of 
the  Hellenes.  The  Greeks  began  to  experience 
pleasurable  sensations  of  ease  and  comfort,  and 


THE    GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH   BONDAGE.       163 

with  this  improvement  began  the  aspiration  after 
a  higher  position.  The  Greeks  are  more  indus- 
trious than  any  other  southern  people,  and  under 
equal  taxation' and  justice  they  would  by  their 
industry  alone  have  starved  out  their  Turkish 
masters.  By  carrying  on  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion on  a  grand  scale  during  the  first  period  of 
their  awakening,  they  proved  themselves  so 
much  superior  that  the  observing  Englishmen, 
full  of  admiration  for  their  talent,  their  perspi- 
cacity, their  experience,  diligence,  economy,  and 
honesty,  predicted  with  the  most  absolute  cer- 
tainty their  success.  Their  merchant  ships  were 
indeed  now  beginning,  in  ever-increasing  num- 
ber, to  bear  to  their  homes  the  wealth  which  was 
destined  later  on  to  keep  alive  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence. The  improvement  was  soon  to  be 
seen  in  landward  Hellas  also,  wherever  the  ab- 
sence of  Turks  permitted  some  security  and  free- 
dom. The  existence  of  such  oases  in  the  midst 
of  the  desert  of  Osmanli  savagery  startled  the 
few  travellers.  The  German  Bartholdy,  who 
was  by  no  means  favorably  inclined  toward  the 
Greeks,  was  astonished  to  find  at  Ampelania,  in 
Thessaly,  several  persons  who  were  capable  of 
addressing  him  in  his  mother  tongue,  and  he 
was  still  more  astonished  when  he  found  that,  as 


164      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

a  recreation,  they  had  opened  a  small  theatre, 
in  which  they  were  representing  Kotzebue's 
*' Menschenhass  und  Reue,"  which  was  then  in 
vogue  in  civilized  Europe.  At  Kallarrytes,  at 
Syracon,  in  Epirus  similar  phenomena  were  to 
be  found.  It  is  the  tradition  of  Kallarrytes, 
says  Leake,  that  the  Vlakhiotes  have  not  been 
settled  in  this  part  of  Pindus  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  which  is  very  credible,  as 
it  is  not  likely  that  they  quitted  the  more  fertile 
parts  of  Thessaly  until  they  felt  the  oppression 
of  the  Turkish  conquerors,  and  their  inability  to 
resist  it.  The  removal  has  not  been  unfortu- 
nate, for  their  descendants  have  thereby  enjoyed 
a  degree  of  repose,  and  have  obtained  advan- 
tages which  their  former  situation  could  hardly 
have  admitted.  They  began  by  carrying  to 
Italy  the  woollen  cloaks,  called  cappe,  which  are 
made  in  these  mountains  and  much  used  in 
Italy  and  in  Spain,  as  well  as  by  the  Greeks 
themselves.  This  opened  the  route  for  a  more 
extended  commerce;  they  now  share  with  the 
Greeks  in  the  valuable  trade  of  colonial  produce 
between  Spain  and  Malta,  and  many  are  owners 
of  both  ship  and  cargo.  The  wealthier  inhabi- 
tants are  merchants  who  have  been  abroad 
many  years  in  Italy,  Spain,  or  the  dominions  of 


THE    GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       1 65 

Austria  or  Russia,  and  who  after  a  long  absence 
have  returned  with  the  fruits  of  their  industry  to 
their  native  towns,  which  they  thus  enrich  and 
in  some  degree  civilize.  But  they  seldom  return 
for  permanent  residence  till  late  in  life,  being 
satisfied  in  the  interval  with  two  or  three  short 
visits.  The  middle  classes  pursue  a  similar 
course ;  but,  as  their  traffic  seldom  carries  them 
as  far  from  home  as  the  higher  order  of  mer- 
chants, they  return  more  frequently,  and  many 
of  them  spend  a  part  of  every  summer  in  their 
native  place. 

At  Siatista,  in  Macedonia,  Bikelas  narrates, 
there  could  hardly  be  said  to  be  a  single  family 
some  member  of  which  was  not  established  in 
Italy,  in  Hungary,  in  Austria,  or  in  Germany. 
Among  the  old  men  in  the  town,  there  were 
very  few  who  had  not  lived  abroad  for  ten  or 
twelve  years.  Among  the  mountain  villages 
near  Volo,  in  Thessaly,  the  same  activity  was 
attended  with  the  same  results.  It  is  to  these 
merchants,  while  either  still  living  in  some  for- 
eign land  or  when  returned  to  their  native  coun- 
try, that  Hellas  owes  that  wonderful  revival  of 
popular  education  which  preceded  her  political 
resurrection.  Such  men  were  Zosimai,  the  Ma- 
routsoi,  the  Kaplanai,  and  so  many  other  benefac- 


1 66      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

tors  of  their  race.  Such  were  those  who  founded 
and  endowed  schools.  There  were  others  who 
were  either  themselves  workers  in  the  fields 
of  literature  and  learning,  or  who  generously  sub- 
sidized and  supported  the  publication  of  useful 
books  by  others.  These  were  the  men  who  made 
themselves  the  leading  apostles  of  freedom  and 
of  civilization,  by  telling  their  fellow-country- 
men what  they  had  heard  and  seen  in  the  do- 
minions of  civilized  governments,  and  exciting 
in  them  the  desire  to  obtain  similar  blessings 
for  their  own  land.  It  is  among  these  mer- 
chants that  are  to  be  found  the  names  of  the  first 
founders  of  the  Hetairia.  It  was  principally 
from  among  them  that  the  emissaries  were 
drawn  who  spread  through  the  provinces  and 
colonies  of  the  Hellenic  race  the  secret  knowl- 
edge of  the  national  movement  which  was  about 
to  break  forth.  Of  six  hundred  and  ninety-two 
recorded  names  of  members  of  the  Hetairia,  two 
hundred  and  fifty-one  are  those  of  business  men, 
and  thirty-five  of  ship  owners. 

Bikelas  concludes :  Trade  helped  to  engender 
the  war  of  independence,  trade  brought  out  and 
hastened  the  moral  and  intellectual  awakening 
of  the  people.  In  the  merchant  ships  were 
raised  those  sailors  who  have  gained  immortality 


THE    GREEKS    UNDER   TURKISH    BONDAGE.       167 

by  fighting  for  Greece.  The  Church  and  the 
communal  system  had,  as  we  have  seen,  saved 
the  integrity  and  the  unity  of  the  nation.  The 
klephthai  and  the  armatoloi,  from  generation  to 
generation,  had  handed  down  the  warrior  spirit 
of  the  Hellenic  race,  and  when  the  hour  of 
battle  came  Hellas  had  children  who  could  fight 
for  her. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE\  iGREEK    WAR     OF    INDEPENDENCE     AND     THE 
EUROPEAN   POWERS. 

From  the  time  of  their  complete  ruin  the 
Greeks  attempted  to  rise  again.  Agitations  and 
plots  existed  continually.  As  they  felt  that  they 
were  not  strong  enough  by  themselves,  they 
asked  for  help  from  the  Christians  of  Western 
Europe.  Different  projects  were  set  on  foot  for 
raising  a  new  crusade.  Meanwhile,  however, 
the  Greeks  seized  upon  every  occasion  to  break 
out  into  insurrections,  which  being  suppressed, 
only  served  the  Turks  as  a  pretext  to  make 
slavery  more  severe.  Charles  VIII.  intended  to 
help  the  Greeks  re-establish  the  Greek  empire. 
Laskaris  and  Arianites  were  in  the  conspiracy 
to  prepare  a  general  rising  of  the  Greeks  as 
soon  as  the  King  of  France  should  set  foot 
among  them.  But  Charles  VIII.  dying,  the 
scheme  was  abandoned.  Many  other  brilliant 
schemes  and  ingenious  plots  to  resuscitate  the  By- 
zantine empire,  different  projects  to  raise  a  new 
crusade,  and  the  insurrections  which  broke  out  in 


THE    WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  169 

Greece,  all  came  to  nothing.  Only  one  of  the 
Western  European  states,  the  republic  of  Venice, 
was  incessantly  opposing  the  Turks,  and  often 
with  success,  but  the  Venetians  in  their  turn  like- 
wise oppressed  the  Greeks.  They  acted  not  as 
their  friends,  but  from  selfish  motives. 

The  religious  separation  between  the  Eastern 
and  the  Western  churches  is  a  thing  of  great  im- 
portance to  be  considered  in  regard  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Greek  people  toward  the  peoples  of 
Western  Europe.  This  religious  dissension  was 
to  some  extent  the  reason  why  Western  Europe 
ceased  to  care  what  happened  to  the  Greeks. 
The  Turks  made  their  final  conquests  in  the  ' 
south;  they  took  Crete.  The  last  half  of  the  . 
seventeenth  century  was  the  direst  period  through 
which  the  Greeks  ever  had  to  pass. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Greece  hoped  for  help  from  Russia,  the  very 
power  whose  population  shared  her  religious 
belief,  and  who  freely  fed  her  with  promises 
and  encouragements.  Catharine  II.  together 
with  Emperor  Joseph  II.  both  had  for  a  time  the 
same  plans  as  Charles  VIII. — namely,  to  restore 
the  Byzantine -Greek  empire.  The  Greeks  were 
for  the  first  time  undeceived  in  their  confidence 
in  Russia  at  the  time  of  the  insurrection  in  1770 


170      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

on  the  appearance  of  the  Russian  fleet  under 
Orloff.  In  the  treaty  which  ended  this  Turko- 
Russian  war  the  Greeks  were  entirely  forgotten ; 
they  were  left  to  the  mercy  of  their  old  tyrants. 
The  vengeance  which  the  Turks  took  was  ter- 
rible. 

This  first  attempt  to  bring  about  a  general  ris- 
ing of  a  whole  nation,  although  it  failed,  was 
far  from  extinguishing  all  hope.  The  struggle 
was  not  given  up,  and  the  Klephtai  in  the  moun- 
tains kept  it  continually  alive. 

The  Greeks  began  to  face  the  Turks  at  sea. 
Lampros  Katzones  fitted  out  about  the  year 
1788,  with  the  help  of  patriotic  subscriptions,  a 
little  fleet,  and  the  Greek  banner  with  the  cross 
of  Christ  was  floating  over  the  Greek  seas  until 
the  Turks  destroyed  this  small  navy  in  1792. 
Now  the  American  and  the  French  revolutions 
had  their  effect  on  Greece;  they  hastened  the 
national  awakening.  Two  apostles  of  the  gospel 
of  liberty,  Rhigas  and  Korai's,  preached  the 
principles  of  the  French  Revolution. 

The  Hetairia  was  a  secret  patriotic  brother- 
hood, a  national  league,  organized  by  Constan- 
tine  Rhigas,  who  took  the  opportunity  to  form 
this  union  when  the  attention  of  his  compatriots 
had  been  directed  from  the  events  of  the  French 


THE    WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  I/I 

Revolution  to  their  own  sad  condition,  a  union 
which  was  created  to  prepare  the  way  for 
political  revolution.  The  first  step  of  these 
united  patriots  was  toward  promotion  of  public 
instruction  and  education. 

Rhigas,  handed  over  by  the  Austrian  police  to 
the  Turks,  was  executed  by  the  latter  in  1798,  but 
the  elements  of  his  society  remained,  and  it  was 
reorganized  and  received  new  life  during  the 
years  of  18 14-17.  Every  member  had  the  right, 
with  the  consent  of  another,  to  receive  any  Greek 
whom  he  believed  to  possess  the  required  quali- 
ties. The  new  member  knew  only  the  one  who 
had  admitted  him.  Before  admission  his  life's 
conduct,  his  principles,  his  financial  circumstances 
were  strictly  examined,  and  on  admission  the 
candidate  had  to  swear  an  oath  which  gave  evi- 
dence of  his  piety,  love  of  liberty,  and  patriotism. 
The  next  object  was  to  secure  contributions, 
which  every  new  member,  through  the  one  who 
had  admitted  him,  had  to  make  to  the  national 
treasury.  The  whole  was  governed  by  a  central 
head  which  had  possession  of  the  funds.  To 
gain  new  members  and  for  other  purposes 
apostles  were  sent  out,  and  in  many  places  of 
the  Turkish  Empire,  especially  in  Constanti- 
nople, the  society  had  its  agents   and  ephores. 


172      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

About  18 18  the  Hetairia  commenced  to  prepare 
the  Greeks  for  a  change  of  their  condition  to  be 
expected  in  the  near  future.  Greece  was  ready 
for  liberty.  All  her  population  were  but  waiting 
the  moment  to  shake  the  chains  from  their 
limbs.  The  apostles  of  the  brotherhood  had 
everywhere  good  ground. 

When  the  war  broke  out  there  was  a  want  of 
organization  either  military  or  political,  the 
means  were  insufficient,  and  there  was  no  al- 
liance and  no  hope  of  help  from  any  foreign 
nation.  On  the  side  of  the  Osmanli  there  were 
power  and  strength;  the  struggle  was  to  be  a 
desperate  one.  Hellas  in  fighting  for  many 
years  against  her  gigantic  oppressor  received  no 
quarter,  her  population  became  much  more  than 
decimated,  in  the  field,  by  massacres,  by  epi- 
demics. Turkish  savagery  spared  nothing. 
The  towns  were  destroyed.  The  country  was 
laid  waste.  When  all  the  bloodshed,  the  horrors 
of  was  were  over,  only  a  little  fraction  of  the 
Hellenic  race  obtained  independence.  Three 
hundred  thousand  Hellenes  gave  up  their  lives 
in  order  that  six  hundred  thousand  might  be  free. 
This  independence  could  be  won  only  sword  in 
hand  in  order  to  wash  out  the  stains  of  slavery. 

Some  people  thought  the  Greeks,  instead  of 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 73 

taking  up  arms  and  proclaiming  their  rights, 
would  have  gained  these  rights  in  the  course  of 
time  and  events,  by  cabals  and  intrigues,  per- 
haps peacefully.  "But,"  says  Bikelas,  "to 
what  depths  of  degradation  would  the  Greek 
race  have  sunk  had  they  refused  the  ancestral 
blood  which  filled  their  veins  for  the  honored 
task  of  washing  out  the  stains  of  slavery?** 

Besides,  if  the  Greeks  had  not  claimed  and  won 
these  rights  as  they  did,  the  Turks  and  the  Greeks 
together  would  have  been  very  likely  to  have 
fallen  one  common  prey  to  another  conqueror. 
Within  the  mighty  empire  of  Russia  the  em- 
pire of  Hellas  would  have  run  great  risk  of  los- 
ing the  very  consciousness  of  her  nationality, 
and  would  certainly  not  have  regained  inde- 
pendence. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte's  expedition  into  Egypt 
appeared  in  the  eyes  of  the  Greeks  as  a  war  of 
civilization  against  savagery,  of  the  Christian 
against  the  Moslem.  Rhigas  called  on  the  vic- 
torious French  general  to  plead  for  the  aid  of 
France  in  the  national  movement  for  which 
Rhigas  was  laboring.  The  hope  of  the  Greeks 
in  this  direction  was  not  realized.  They  found 
that  they  could  count  on  no  help  from  Western 
Christendom,  so  they  turned  toward  Russia. 


174      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

The  Greeks  appealed  to  the  West  as  the  de 
scendants  of  the  old  Hellenes,  in  the  name  of  her 
historic  past,  and  as  Christians  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Byzantine  empire. 

The  empire  of  Rome  had  been  absorbed  by 
Hellenism.  The  Greek  language,  Greek  civiliza- 
tion, the  profession  of  a  common  Christianity  had 
united  the  Romans  with  the  Greeks.  The  im- 
perial Byzantine  tradition  went  on  in  the  Church 
after  the  fall  of  the  empire,  after  the  fall  of 
Constantinople.  Her  calendar  of  fasts  and  fes- 
tivals still  celebrates  year  by  year  the  commem- 
oration of  events  in  Byzantine  history.  All 
these  things  tended  to  bring  the  empire  home 
to  the  Greek  revolution,  and  with  that  recollec- 
tion to  combine  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  Greek  empire.  The  schemes  for  a  restora- 
tion of  the  empire  from  Charles  VHI.  to  Catha- 
rine II.  had  been  incentives  to  this  dream  of 
a  new  Byzantium.  Alongside  of  this  dream  the 
thought  of  old  Hellenism  brightened  more  and 
more  clearly. 

In  a  foregoing  chapter  it  has  been  shown  why 
the  Greeks,  with  all  their  love  for  the  memory  of 
the  Komnenoi  and  Palaeologoi,  hold  still  more 
sacred  the  memory  of  their  ancient  heroes. 
Fifty   years    before   the   war    of    independence 


THE   WAR   OF    INDEPENDENCE.  1 75 

they  wrote  to  the  Czarina :  "  Set  free  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Athenians  and  Lacedsemonians  from 
the  crushing  yoke  under  which  they  groan,  and 
which,  nevertheless,  has  not  been  able  to  de- 
stroy the  spirit  of  their  nation,  where  the  love  of 
freedom  still  burns.  Our  chains  have  been 
powerless  to  stifle  that  love,  for  we  always  had 
set  before  our  eyes  the  living  memory  of  our 
heroic  fathers." 

The  two  ideas  to  restore  the  Byzantine  em- 
pire and  to  reawaken  ancient  Hellas  became  in- 
termingled. There  was  as  much  of  the  one  as  of 
the  other  in  the  minds  of  those  who  prepared 
the  national  movement  in  1821.  The  poet 
Rhigas  addressed  his  passionate  appeal  to  every 
Christian  in  bondage  "to  light  a  fire  which 
should  wrap  all  Turkey,  from  Bosnia  to 
Arabia." 

The  Byzantine  project  was  then  not  so  vision- 
ary as  it  now  seems.  The  spirit  of  nationalism 
had  not  been  roused  in  the  other  races  of  the 
Balkan  peninsula.  They  felt  that  they  all  were 
Christians. 

The  other  states  might  have  united  under  the 
leadership  of  Greece  to  form  one  Christian  state 
if  the  revolution  had  been  better  organized.  If 
Ypsilanti  had  possessed  the  genius  of  a  Wash- 


176     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

ington  or  of  a  Napoleon,  the  great  ilea  of  a  re- 
stored Byzantine  empire  might  perhaps  then 
have  been  realized.  The  rising  of  Wallachia 
was  soon  stamped  out,  and  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence became  limited  to  Greece  alone. 
Since  then  the  Byzantine  idea  was  more  and 
more  abandoned  for  the  Hellenic  idea.  The 
war  of  independence  became  an  exclusively 
Greek  war,  and  since  the  formation  of  the  new 
Greek  kingdom  the  Greek  aspirations  have  be- 
come exclusively  Hellenic.  The  centre  of  Greek 
thought  is  in  Athens,  and  in  Athens  dwells  the 
hope  of  Greece's  future,  the  hope  that  Hellen- 
ism may  again  be  what  it  has  been. 

In  the  first  of  the  foregoing  chapters  an  his- 
torical sketch  of  the  Byzantine  empire  is  given 
in  order  to  show  the  most  extraordinary  mis- 
representations which  have  existed  until  re- 
cently in  regard  to  this  history.  In  the  second 
chapter  another  historical  sketch  exposes  the 
erroneous  views  which  have  prevailed  in  regard 
to  the  relation  of  the  Greek  of  to-day  to  the 
Greek  of  the  classical  period,  at  least  the  Greek 
of  the  Attic  orators.  Chapter  III.  shows  what 
absurd  ideas  were  in  vogue  in  regard  to  Greek 
pronunciation.  The  fourth  chapter  gives  an  ac- 
count of  the  misery  into  which  the  Greek  world 


THE   WAR   OF    INDEPENDENCE.  1/7 

was  thrown  during  the  centuries  of  Turkish  bond- 
age, of  the  wonderful  rising  of  the  Greek  people 
from  the  lethargy  caused  by  slavery,  and  of 
their  spiritual  and  political  resurrection.  Now 
we  come  to  the  strangest  and  the  most  incom- 
prehensible of  all  the  wrongs  done  to  this  noble 
race,  the  treatment  received  from  the  European 
powers  while  she  was  struggling  for  liberty 
after  long  centuries  of  terrific  vicissitudes,  un- 
der circumstances  which  presented  more  diffi- 
culties than  any  other  nation  had  encountered. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1822,  the  Euro- 
pean sovereigns  and  their  ministers  were  assem- 
bled in  the  council  at  Verona  to  consider  the 
Greek  question. 

In  the  spring  of  the  preceding  year  the  mon- 
archs,  assembled  at  Lay  bach,  had  deliberated 
already  over  the  news  of  an  insurrectionary 
Greek  movement.  Alexander  I.  and  the  whole 
of  Europe  disowned  and  condemned  the  Hel- 
lenic war  of  independence  from  the  very  mo- 
ment it  began. 

The  Greeks  in  their  assembly  at  Epidauros  on 
January  15th,  1822,  proclaimed:  "Our  war 
against  the  Turks  is  not  the  outcome  of  seditions 
and  subversive  forces,  nor  the  weapon  of  party 
ambition.     It  is  a  national  war,  undertaken  with 


178      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

no  aim  save  that  of  regaining  our  rights,  and  pre- 
serving our  existence  and  our  honor."  Their 
appeals  and  proclamations  remained  perfectly 
futile.  The  world  continued  to  regard  them  as 
subjects  in  rebellion  against  their  lawful  sover- 
eign. 

They  hastened  to  send  a  mission  to  the  Con- 
gress of  Verona  to  explain  their  wishes  and 
plead  their  cause.  The  Congress  refused, 
thanks  to  the  influence  of  Prince  Metternich, 
even  to  receive  the  petition.  They  forbade  the 
Greek  representatives  to  set  foot  in  Verona,  and 
requested  the  Pope  to  expel  them  from  Ancona. 

It  was  in  the  lurid  glare  of  Chios  that  the 
powers  met  at  Verona  to  declare  "  that  the  sov- 
ereigns had  determined  to  repel  the  principle  of 
revolution  without  inquiring  in  what  shape  or  in 
what  country  it  made  its  appearance,"  and  Wel- 
lington was  the  voice  of  Christian  constitutional 
England  on  that  occasion. 

Chios  is  an  island  with  a  population  of  one 
hundred  thousand  Greeks.  This  island  was  a 
kind  of  an  apanage  (mastic  patch)  of  the  Sultana 
mother.  Chios  became  the  garden  of  the  archi- 
pelago. It  drew  to  itself  all  that  was  refined, 
intelligent,  and  cultivating  in  Greek  society. 
Schools,    colleges,   libraries  were    founded    and 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 79 

flourished.  The  Chiotes  took  no  part  in  the 
struggle,  but  in  April,  1822,  Moslem  fanaticism 
let  loose  upon  them  the  hounds  of  hell.  Fire, 
sword,  and  the  still  more  deadly  passions  of  fa- 
naticism and  lust  ravaged  the  island  for  three 
months.  Of  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants 
not  five  thousand  were  left  alive  upon  the  island ; 
forty  thousand  of  both  sexes  were  sold  into 
slavery,  and  the  harems  of  Turkey,  Asia,  and 
Africa  are  still  (fifteen  years  after  the  massacre, 
when  Richard  Cobden  wrote  this,  while  he 
visited  the  stricken  island)  filled  with  victims. 

Gladstone  has  characterized  it  as  "  that  horror, 
that  indescribable  enormity,  that  appalling 
monument  of  barbarian  cruelty,  a  scene  from 
which  human  nature  shrinks  shuddering  away." 
Such  was  the  massacre  of  Chios,  unparalleled 
in  modern  history,  a  tragedy  compared  by  the 
British  consul,  an  eye-witness,  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  which  thrilled  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica with  horror. 

After  the  Congress  of  Verona  war  went  on,  a 
butchery  sanctioned  by  Christian  Europe  in  the 
interest  of  toppling  thrones  and  a  balance  of 
power. 

"During  the  last  twenty-five  years,"  says 
Bikelas,  "  a  number  of  new  states  have  been  ad- 


l8o     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

mitted  into  the  European  family  of  nations,  and 
that  sometimes  after  defeats  instead  of  victories, 
and  sometimes  after  the  populations  have  merely 
allowed  themselves  to  be  massacred  without 
making  any  resistance.  In  view  of  these  facts 
it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  Hellas,  after  having 
fought  and  triumphed  by  sea  and  by  land  for 
two  years,  and  thus  virtually  acquired  indepen- 
dence by  her  army,  entirely  failed  to  make  the 
governments  of  that  epoch  even  listen  to  what 
she  had  to  say.  Diplomatic  Europe  was  at  that 
time  guided  by  the  principles  of  the  Holy  Al- 
liance, and  these  principles  were  ironically  de- 
picted by  the  Due  de  Broglie  in  one  of  his 
speeches :  "  Every  revolution  whatever  is  not 
only  a  rebellion  against  the  government  which  it 
attacks  in  particular,  but  a  criminal  attempt 
against  civilization  in  general.  Every  nation 
which  tries  to  gain  its  rights,  when  its  govern- 
ment has  refused  it  the  liberty,  is  a  nation  of 
pirates  which  ought  to  be  outlawed  and  pro- 
scribed by  all  Europe.  Constitutions  have  no 
lawful  source  except  in  absolutism.  Any  gov- 
ernment which  is  the  child  of  a  revolution  is  a 
monster  which  ought  to  be  killed  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible." 

It  was  against  such  doctrines  as  these,  as  much 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  l8l 

as  against  the  army  of  Turkey,  that  Hellas  had 
to  contend  in  order  to  conquer  her  independ- 
ence. The  powers  were  exceedingly  tender 
about  the  sovereign  rights  of  Turkey.  They 
left  Hellas  to  her  fate  in  the  conviction  that  it 
would  not  be  long  before  the  Sultan  would  crush 
her.  The  little  nation  had  no  organization,  no 
resources,  no  allies,  and  no  protectors;  but  the 
energy  of  despair  gave  tenfold  force  to  the 
Greeks  to  resist  the  formidable  Turkish  power. 

The  Greeks  went  on  fighting,  and  prospered  for 
two  years  after  the  Congress  of  Verona  until  the 
armies  and  fleets  of  Egypt  came  to  the  aid  of 
Turkey.  The  Greeks  were  beaten,  still  they 
contested  their  burnt  and  blackened  fields  against 
the  Arabs,  and  with  the  continued  cry  of 
"EXeodspia  rj  0dvazo?  they  appealed  to  the  conscience 
of  Christian  Europe. 

Then  despite  their  governments  the  nations 
began  to  show  sympathy  with  Hellas.  Material 
help  and  moral  support  came  from  all  sides.  In 
Germany,  in  England,  in  France,  societies  were 
formed  for  the  support  of  the  Greeks.  The 
head-centre  of  these  societies  was  the  banker 
Eynard  in  Geneva.  Philhellenic  volunteers  or- 
ganized, and  one  of  these  volunteers  was  Lord 
Byron.     The  first  result  of  this  favorable  condi- 


1 82      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

tion  was  the  negotiation  of  a  Greek  loan  in  Eng- 
land. 

One  time  France  took  the  lead  in  the  Philhel- 
lenic movement.  This  nation  was  entirely  free 
from  selfish  motives.  A  philanthropic  society 
for  the  support  of  the  Greeks  was  founded  in 
Paris,  and  this  society  prepared  the  way  for 
Philhellenism  in  all  ranks  of  society,  the  king's 
family  included.  The  French  press  took  a  most 
active  part ;  and  among  many  prominent  writers 
in  favor  of  the  Greeks  was  Chateaubriand,  who 
said  that  the  world  of  learning  and  the  political 
world  were  longing  to  see  the  re-establishment 
of  the  mother  of  sciences  and  religion,  and  to  see 
the  altars  free  again  in  a  Christian  country  where 
St.  Paul  had  preached  the  unknown  God.  The 
warmth  and  the  courage  with  which  the  Greek 
cause  was  taken  up  in  France  awoke  old  sym- 
pathies in  Switzerland  and  Germany.  Banker 
Eynard  of  Geneva,  the  president  of  the  Philhel- 
lenic society,  was  said  to  be  more  Hellenic  than 
Hellas'  best  citizen.  He  became  the  head- 
centre  of  the  whole  Greek  movement  in  Europe. 

The  first  active  participation  came  from  Ger- 
many. The  language  of  human  generosity 
knew  no  bounds.  Dr.  Iptis,  Ypsilanti's  phy- 
sician, came  to  Austria  to  excite  sympathy  for 


THE   WAR    OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 83 

the  Greeks.  In  Vienna  friends  had  to  aid  him 
to  flee  quickly  to  save  him  from  the  fate  of 
Rhigas ;  in  Germany  he  was  everywhere  enthu- 
siastically received.  Among  the  many  noble 
Germans  who  worked  for  the  Greek  cause  were 
Krug  and  Thiersch.  The  German  journals  gave 
correct  news  and  explanations  about  the  Greek 
rising  and  refuted  the  Austrian  calumniations 
until  the  Austrian  and  German  governments  in- 
terdicted the  Philhellenic  agitations. 

When  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  Chios  was 
published  in  England  and  Waddington  described 
the  terrible  distress  in  Athens,  where  over 
twenty  thousand  poor  refugees  were  starving, 
contributions  were  made  quietly  without  osten- 
tation. Erskine,  in  a  letter  on  the  situation  in 
Greece  to  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  London,  1822, 
attacked  the  league  between  England  and  the 
Porte,  the  fraternity  between  the  king  and  the 
Sultan,  and  characterized  this  relation  as  a  dis- 
grace to  the  English  nation  so  long  as  the  ruin 
of  Chios  was  not  atoned  for.  But  only  under 
Canning  did  The  Quarterly  Review  adopt  a 
friendly  attitude  toward  the  Greeks,  and  only 
then  were  Philhellenic  societies  organized. 
This  was  the  time  when  the  first  loan  was  made 
to  Greece. 


1 84     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

Moral  encouragement,  material  aid,  political 
support  were  needed  to  help  the  Greek  nation  in 
her  struggle;  and  help  came  from  Occidental 
Europe.  Admiration  of  the  heroic  deeds,  and 
sympathy  with  the  sufferings  of  the  little  nation 
showed  itself  in  unselfish  exertions.  Indeed, 
the  record  of  this  Philhellenic  movement  fills 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  pages  in  the  history 
of  mankind.  The  ladies  of  the  highest  rank  in 
Paris  formed  special  sodalities;  organized  in 
different  divisions,  they  made  house-to-house 
collections  in  the  city.  In  all  salons  it  became 
the  custom  for  the  lady  of  the  house  to  take  up  a 
collection  for  Greece.  In  the  French  provinces 
this  new  zeal  took  root  and  spread.  Eynard 
took  charge  of  the  forwarding  of  provisions ;  he 
and  his  friends  sent  24,000  francs  in  cash,  the 
committee  of  Paris  60,000  francs,  Amsterdam 
30,000,  and  the  society  in  Stuttgart  a  similar 
sum.  When  the  sad  news  of  the  fall  of  Misso- 
longhi  was  made  known,  when  the  Bishop  of 
Arta  asked  help  for  the  wives  and  children  who 
were  sold  like  cattle,  transported  to  Egypt, 
never  to  return — and  when  Eynard  transmitted 
this  appeal  to  Paris,  and  from  Paris  to  all 
parts  of  the  world,  all  Europe  was  filled  with 
pity,  a   pity   which    confers    lasting    honors   on 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 8$ 

society  of  those  times.  King  Lewis  of  Bavaria 
had  already  given  from  his  own  money  20,000 
florins,  and  he  added  20,000  francs  to  buy  the 
liberty  of  Missolonghians  sent  into  slavery,  and 
later  on  again  20,000  florins  of  his  own  money 
and  26,000  francs  contributed  by  the  royal 
family.  He  interdicted  all  festivities  in  his 
realm,  requesting  that  the  money  intended 
therefor  should  partly  go  to  the  poor  of  the  re- 
spective communities  and  partly  to  the  Greeks. 
The  Philhellenic  Union  in  Munich  sent  65,000 
francs,  similar  contributions  came  from  Dresden 
and  Leipsic,  where  Tiedge  and  W.  Mliller 
kindled  the  fire ;  while  in  Berlin  it  was  the  great 
physician  Hufeland  and  the  historian  Neander 
who  first  made  appeals  to  alleviate  the  sufferings 
and  to  buy  the  liberty  of  prisoners  sent  into 
slavery.  Berlin  sent  240,000  francs.  In  The 
Hague,  in  Namur,  Bruxelles,  Luxemburg,  Stock- 
holm, this  example  was  followed.  In  France 
the  deep  indignation  caused  by  the  fact  that 
Frenchmen  had  taken  part  in  the  destruction 
of  Missolonghi,  and  sold  cannon  to  the  Turks, 
gave  a  sharp  impulse  to  the  sense  of  national 
honor.  In  the  French  chamber  Chateaubriand 
made  a  motion  to  punish  Frenchmen  who  aided 
the  Turks;    French  subjects  were  forbidden  to 


1 86     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

hire  out  their  ships  for  the  transportation  of 
Greeks  into  Egyptian  slavery;  Alexis  de  No- 
ailles  moved  that  300,000  francs  be  given 
to  the  French  consuls  to  buy  the  liberty  of 
Christian  slaves,  and  Constant  rose  to  ask  the 
Minister  of  War  whether  among  the  French 
officers,  who  together  with  the  Egyptian  hordes 
had  covered  their  hands  with  the  blood  of  the 
Missolonghians,  there  were  any  who  were  still  on 
the  rolls  of  the  French  army,  and  whether  they 
still  held  commissions  and  still  received  pay. 

All  international  jealousies  disappeared  in 
those  days.  Eynard  expressed  his  deep  indig- 
nation when,  at  the  catastrophe  of  Missolonghi, 
English  politics  prevented  the  besieged  Greeks, 
dying  of  starvation,  from  being  supplied  with 
food  from  the  Ionian  Islands.  If  he  had  been 
governor,  instead  of  Maitland  (one  of  the  most 
detestable,  cruel  monsters  among  the  enemies  of 
the  Greeks),  he  would  have  acted  differently, 
even  if  he  were  to  have  died  on  the  scaffold. 

In  England  there  were  published  venomous 
accusations  against  the  Greeks  and  their  govern- 
ment, in  order  to  defend  the  English  policy, 
representing  that  all  aid  of  the  people  was 
wasted  on  unworthy  subjects.  It  is  true,  some 
unavoidable  mistakes  were  made  by  the  Greeks 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 87 

in  applying  the  money  sent  by  Philhellenes ; 
sometimes  they  trusted  egoistic  people.  There 
were  English  and  even  American  contractors 
who  enriched  themselves  by  cheating  the 
Greeks,  notably  two  firms  in  New  York,  Row- 
land, and  Le  Roy  Bayard  &  Co.,  against  whom 
the  United  States  Government  had  finally  to 
proceed,  in  order  to  recover  part  of  the  money 
paid  to  them  by  Greeks  for  ship  contracts. 

The  leaders  of  the  Parisian  Philhellenic 
unions,  however,  did  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
influenced  by  the  occasional  misappropriation  of 
money  nor  the  ill-treatment  of  Frenchmen  in 
Greece.  These  leaders  were  mild  in  their  judg- 
ments; they  looked  with  admiration  at  Greek 
bravery  and  Greek  perseverance..  Thjey^^alw^s 
reported  favorably  on  them,  overlooking  th( 
evils  which,  naturally  enough,  were  unavoidable 
in  such  a  chaos  of  misery  and  wamt  of  insigh^ 
and  order.  The  Greeks  have  sonbliern__bJ 
they  are  known  for  their  quick  impulses.  While 
they  formerly  displayed  pride  and  sometimes 
hatred  toward  foreigners,  they  were  now  filled 
with  heartfelt  gratitude.  They  knew  that  with- 
out the  intervention  or  the  generosity  of  the  for- 
eigners their  country  would  have  succumbed, 
and  they  appreciated  the  more  keenly  their  obli- 


1 88      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

gations  toward  the  French  because,  firstly,  they 
had  had  to  overcome  the  policy  of  their  govern- 
ment, and  secondly,  they  had  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing all  European  nations  co-operate  with  them 
in  the  work  of  charity.  At  the  end  of  the  fear- 
ful year  1826,  the  Parisian  committee  had  sent 
2 ,  500,000  francs.  Even  in  Vienna  the  ice  melted 
and  contributions  came  in ;  and  in  America  there 
was  great  activity  in  behalf  of  the  Greeks,  with 
happy  results. 

This  popular  sympathy,  this  public  opinion 
in  favor  of  Greece,  however,  became  an  addition- 
al reason  for  the  rabid  hostility  with  which 
the  governments  regarded  the  Hellenic  cause. 
"How  is  it  possible  to  doubt,"  wrote  Count 
Bernstorff  from  Berlin,  "that  the  safety  of  Euro- 
pean society  is  menaced  by  the  war  which 
threatens  Europe,  when  we  see  that  every  revo- 
lutionist in  every  country  is  making  it  the  object 
of  all  his  hopes  and  expectations  ?  ...  It  would 
appear  that  their  aim  in  wishing  to  have  Greece 
free  is  only  that  they  may  set  free  the  spirit  of 
evil  in  all  the  Christian  states  of  Europe ;  they 
hate  the  Turks  only  in  order  to  satisfy  their 
hatred  of  the  allied  powers,  and  they  call  for 
the  intervention  of  Russia  with  the  treacherous 
hope    of    thereby  dissolving    the    union    which 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  1 89 

curbs  them,  restrains  them,  and  chastises  them." 
The  powers  never  dreamed  of  doing  anything 
when  they  heard  of  the  massacre  of  Chios  and  of 
Constantinople,  of  Cydonia.  It  was  only  when 
Greece,  broken  down  by  the  struggle,  fell  a  prey 
to  anarchy,  when  the  men  of  the  fleet  took  to 
plundering  the  seas  of  the  archipelagos  that 
Europe  found  it  necessary  to  put  an  end  to  the 
war,  when  Prince  Metternich  wrote  that  in  tne 
near  future  there  might  be  no  more  Greeks  left 
to  be  delivered.  When  the  powers  thus  were 
obliged  to  put  an  end  to  the  war  they  wanted  to 
do  it  without  cutting  Greece  clear  of  Turkey. 
In  their  treaty  of  July  6th,  1827,  each  of  the 
powers  tried  to  turn  events  to  its  own  advantage 
or  to  prevent  their  turning  to  the  advantage  of 
some  one  else.  There  was  only  one  point  upon 
which  they  were  all  agreed — and  this  was,  to 
prevent  the  formation  of  any  Greek  state  strong 
enough  to  be  really  independent.  Emperor 
Nicholas,  in  an  interview  which  he  held  with  the 
Austrian  ambassador,  assured  him  that  he  de- 
tested the  Greeks,  because  he  regarded  them  as 
subjects  in  rebellion  against  their  lawful  sover- 
eign ;  that  he  did  not  wish  that  they  should  be- 
come free;  that  they  did  not  deserve  freedom, 
and  that  if  they  were  to  succeed  in  obtaining  it, 


190      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

it  would  be  a  very  bad  example  for  other  coun- 
tries. 

During  the  whole  of  the  war  Austria — the  most 
implacable  of  her  enemies — did  everything  pos- 
sible to  hinder  Greece's  regeneration.  Prince 
Metternich,  as  was  remarked  by  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  gave  himself  up  "body  and  soul"  to 
the  Turks  as  far  as  regarded  Greece.  He  looked 
upon  the  Greeks  simply  as  rebels  against  their 
lawful  sovereign.  The  Greeks  complained  bit- 
terly of  the  conduct  of  the  Austrian  ships,  which 
they  represented  as  being  the  most  effective  allies 
of  the  Turkish  cause.  The  Austrians  trans- 
ported convoys  and  munitions  of  war  to  the 
Turkish  garrisons  and  fortresses,  and  broke 
through  the  Greek  blockades — acts  which  were 
more  than  a  gross  violation  of  neutrality,  they 
amounted  to  a  direct  participation  in  the  war  on 
the  side  of  the  Turks. 

The  Hellenes  owe  much  to  Byron,  Canning, 
and  Gladstone,  and  the  English  people,  although 
the  English  government  had  not  done  half  as 
much  for  the  Greeks  as  has  been  done  in  the 
attempt  to  fashion  an  independent  Bulgaria. 

Among  the  many  enemies  of  the  Greeks 
who  do  their  nefarious  work  in  the  daily 
papers  or  other  periodicals  is  a  man  who  signs 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  I9I 

his  articles  "W.  J.  S.,"  who  with  venomous 
malevolence  makes  plausible  misstatements, 
which  go  to  make  up  that  tissue  of  splendid 
mendacity  which  is  deceiving  some  people  who 
are  not  familiar  with  history.  This  W.  J.  S. 
is  a  Mr.  W.  J.  Stillman  who  was  United  States 
consul  in  Crete  during  the  years  from  1866-68. 
In  1874  he  published  his  book  on  the  Cretan 
insurrection  of  1866-68.  Strange  it  is  that  W. 
J.  S.,  or  W.  J.  Stillman,  leads  a  double  life,  as 
Mr.  Gennadius  has  so  clearly  exposed  in  a  letter 
from  London  dated  April  ist  and  published 
in  The  Evening  Post.  While  his  book  is  fair  and 
correct,  his  articles  of  recent  date  are  the  con- 
trary. Both  Mr.  Bikelas  and  Mr.  J.  Gennadius, 
another  brilliant  Greek  scholar  and  writer,  and  a 
historian  and  philologist  well  known  also  in  Eng- 
lish literature,  have  answered  this  Jekyl-Hyde. 
Since  there  is  so  much  quoted  from  Mr.  Bikelas 
it  may  be  well  to  quote  now  Mr.  Gennadius. 
When  W.  J.  S.  (Hyde),  says  Gennadius,  comes 
to  survey  past  history,  he  (Jekyl-Hyde)  declares 
that  this  contemptible  little  vState  of  Greece 
"owes  its  existence  and  every  foot  of  ground 
over  which  its  rule  extends"  to  the  great  powers. 
"  Not  an  inch  of  territory  has  ever  been  won  by 
Greek  effort."     How  we  lament,  continues  Gen- 


192      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

nadius,  the  fact  that  Mr.  Stillman  (Dr.  Jekyl) 
has  not  also  written  for  us  a  history  of  the  Greek 
war  of  independence.  We  might  then  have 
appealed  to  him  against  W.  J.  S.  (Mr.  Hyde). 
For  every  one,  except  W.  J.  S.,  knows  that  the 
Greek  war  of  independence — the  most  noble  and 
most  glorious  struggle  for  liberty  which  modern 
history  records — had  already  been  waged  for 
seven  long  and  terrible  years  by  a  handful  of 
heroes  against  the  then  dreaded  power  of  the 
Ottoman  empire  before  any  of  the  great  powers 
stirred  a  finger  in  behalf  of  (k*eece,  nay,  they 
were  all  opposed  to  Greece.  The  Greek  insur- 
gents were  branded  by  the  European  govern- 
ments (as  related  in  this  chapter),  as  malefactors 
and  outlaws.  Austrian  men-of-war,  continues 
Gennadius,  did  scout  duty  for  the  Turkish  fleet. 
The  cabinets  of  Europe  championed  the  diplo- 
macy of  the  Porte.  Lord  Ellenborough,  a 
member  of  the  British  administration,  declared 
that  the  Sultan  had  absolute  right  to  do  just  as 
he  pleased  with  his  unruly  subjects.  But  the 
splendid  heroism,  the  fortitude,  and  the  self- 
reliance  of  the  Greeks  aroused  at  last  the  public 
sense  of  Europe  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  govern- 
ments were  compelled  to  intervene,  and  the 
battle    of    Navarino    ensued.      Even   that   was 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  I93 

speedily  regretted,  neutralized,  and  lamented 
as  an  untoward  event.  Finally  the  Cretans, 
who  had  practically  conquered  their  freedom, 
were  ordered  back  to  the  old  servitude. 

In  the  first  chapter  the  name  of  the  Klephts 
is  mentioned.  Since  the  newspapers  during  the 
recent  war  translated  this  word  as  bandit  or  brig- 
and, it  may  be  well  to  state  here  who  these  men 
really  were. 

The  Klephts  of  old  defied  their  oppressors; 
they  kept  the  tradition  of  their  nationality 
vivid,  and  the  love  for  their  freedom  burning, 
until  the  time  arrived  when  these  bands  became 
the  chief  instrument  of  their  country's  libera- 
tion. Their  life  was  a  wild  and  lawless  one,  but 
there  was  an  element  of  chivalrous  nobility  and 
simple  grandeur  about  them  that  was  admired 
even  by  their  enemies.  The  attacks  and  depre- 
dations of  the  Klephts  were  directed  against  the 
Turks  alone,  upon  whom  they  retaliated  for 
every  wrong  inflicted  upon  their  countrymen  of 
the  towns  and  villages.  A  raya  family  which 
had  a  son  in  the  mountains  was  far  more  secure 
from  the  exactions  and  insults  of  the  Turks  than 
one  whose  submission  was  complete.  The  halo 
of  a  national  glory  encircled,  therefore,  the  exis- 
tence of  these  men,  who  were  looked  upon  as 
13 


194     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  champions  of  faith  and  independence. 
They,  on  their  part,  justly  considered  them- 
selves as  a  superior  caste  to  the  common  ray  as, 
who  trembled  at  the  sight  of  the  Osmanli. 
The  answer  Kolokotronis  gave  to  those  who  ad- 
vised him  to  submit  is  a  characteristic  example 
of  the  high  and  independent  spirit  which  ani- 
mated these  men.  He  said:  "The  Turks  have 
murdered  other  Greeks  and  made  slaves  of  many ; 
but  we  have  lived  free  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. Our  king  was  killed  in  battle  without 
making  peace,  his  guard  has  since  kept  up  the 
fight  and  some  of  his  castles  are  still  unsubdued. 
We,  the  Klephts,  are  his  guard,  and  Maina  and 
Souli  his  castles."  Thus  lived  these  men,  un- 
conquered  and  unsubdued,  until  the  day  when 
they  freed  the  land  of  their  fathers  of  the  infidel 
pest,  and  hailed  a  new  king. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

KINGDOM    OF    GREECE     BEFORE    THE   WAR   OF 
1897. 

The  powers  had  witnessed  the  tremendous 
sacrifices  of  the  heroic  little  nation,  which  tinder 
the  black  night  of  tyranny  held  out  the  torch  of 
liberty,  of  the  nation  which  had  fought  until  her 
land  had  been  devastated  and  her  race  deci- 
mated. Finally,  after  the  famous  blunder  of 
Navarino,  the  untoward  event  as  Palmerston 
called  it,  they  declared  Greece  an  independent 
state  and  offered  its  throne  to  Prince  Leopold  of 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 

The  object  of  the  war  of  1821  was  to  free  the 
entire  Hellenic  race  from  the  Ottoman  yoke. 
This  was  the  watchword  of  Rhigas  and  the 
Hetairia,  this  was  what  Ypsilanti  proclaimed  in 
his  declarations,  and  the  voice  which  was  heard 
amid  the  sound  of  the  nations  rising  from  the 
Danube  to  Tenaron,  from  Souli  to  Cydonia, 
from  Athos  to  the  Cretan  Ida.  The  first  na- 
tional assembly  proclaimed  at  Epidauros  that 
this  was  their  object,  and  it  has  been  to  this  end 


196      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

that  blood  has  run  in  every  Greek  country  of 
Europe  and  Asia.  The  great  powers  of  Europe 
allowed  only  a  small  portion  of  the  Hellenic  ter- 
ritory and  the  Hellenic  race  to  recover  their  in- 
dependence. 

Prince  Leopold,  who  first  had  accepted  the 
crown,  resigned  because  he  could  not  consent  to  . 
the  mutilation  of  Greece  and  to  the  injustice  y 
that  Greeks  should  desert  their  brethren,  who 
had  fought  along  with  them  to  set  their  country 
free ;  he  could  not  consent  that  these  very  Greeks 
should  now  be  cut  off  to  be  sent  back  into  Tur- 
kish slavery. 

This  abdication  of  Prince  Leopold  was  the 
formal  condemnation  of  the  policy  of  the  pow- 
ers, especially  of  English  policy.  The  English 
government  indeed  acted  throughout  as  the  ad- 
vocate of  Turkey;  its  aim  was  to  take  from 
Turkey  and  to  give  Greece  as  little  as  possible. 

Prince  Leopold  had  failed  to  obtain  any  of  the 
concessions  which  he  regarded  as  indispensable 
conditions  of  stability  and  progress  for  the  state 
which  he  had  been  called  to  govern.  On  Feb- 
ruary 9th,  1830,  he  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton :  "  I  have  considered  the  protocol  of  the  3d 
inst. ;  it  appears  that,  if  its  spirit  be  duly  exe- 
cuted, it  will  affect  as  follows :   i .  It  will  estab- 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.         I97 

lish  an  armistice  and  de  facto  peace  between  the 
contending  parties,  provided  peaceable  means 
suffice  to  carry  this  purpose.  2.  It  will  give 
birth  to  a  Greek  state  and  promise  its  indepen- 
dence. 3.  It  will  have  traced  out  for  this  state 
boundaries,  weak  from  a  military,  poor  from  a 
financial  point  of  view.  4.  It  will  have  found  a 
sovereign  for  the  new  state. "  The  obstinacy  with 
which  freedom  was  refused  to  Crete  appeared  to 
him  especially  unjustifiable.  "  As  I  see  every- 
where," he  wrote  in  the  same  letter,  "that  it  is 
English  policy  to  separate  Candia  from  Greece,  I 
am  afraid  that  the  hidden  interest  which  caused 
this  separation  to  be  determined  on  will  augur  no 
good  to  the  new  state.  The  exclusion  of  Candia 
will  cripple  the  new  state,  morally  and  physi- 
cally, will  make  it  weak  and  poor,  expose  it  to 
constant  danger  from  Turkey,  and  create  from 
the  beginning  innumerable  difficulties  for  him 
who  is  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  government." 
The  subsequent  history  of  Crete  and  of  Greece 
has  amply  justified  his  sorrowful  foresight. 

This  combination  of  interestedness  and  insin- 
cerity upon  the  part  of  England  and  the  other 
powers  of  Europe  is  all  the  more  repulsive  when 
we  examine  the  history  of  the  Turks  and  the 
motives  why  they  are  protected  and  succored  by 


198      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  powers.  In  the  foregoing  chapters  we  have 
seen  that  wherever  they  have  set  their  foot, 
there  they  have  brought  ruin  and  devastation; 
the  finest  lands  of  the  universe  have  been  turned 
into  deserts,  and  the  most  intelligent  races  have 
degenerated  under  their  sway  into  nomadic  tribes 
and  arrant  outlaws.  Cities  have  fallen  into  dust, 
and  arts  and  science  have  fled  before  this  wild 
herd  of  savage  debauchers.  They  are  the  people 
for  whom  the  powers  sacrificed,  and  sacrifice  to- 
day yet,  justice  and  humanity.  Turks  have  re- 
corded their  national  life  on  the  pages  of  history 
by  a  big  dark  blot  of  blood  and  infamy,  and  the 
names  of  the  powers  are  to  be  associated  with 
them  as  their  protectors. 

France  had  recommended  to  the  other  powers 
the  emancipation  of  the  island  of  Crete,  but 
neither  the  French  Government,  nor  Kapodistria, 
nor  Prince  Leopold  were  able  to  shake  Eng- 
land's opposition  to  the  emancipation  of  Crete. 

The  Nemesis  for  all  this  English  wrong 
toward  Greece  has  not  been  waiting  long. 
Thomas  Davidson,  in  a  paper  entitled  "  Victorian 
Greater  Britain  and  its  Future"  {Forum,  July, 
1897),  has  depicted  it,  showing  again  the  truth  of 
the  German  proverb.  Die  Weltgeschichte  ist  das 
Weltgericht.     Davidson  says: 


GREECE   BEFORE  THE  WAR   OF    1 897.         1 99 

"  While  Russia  is  frankly  despotic  and  op- 
posed to  democracy,  and  Germany  is  rapidly  be- 
coming so,  both  thus  assuming  a  definite  direc- 
tion and  aim.  Great  Britain  is  wasting  her 
opportunities  and  strength  in  trying  to  follow 
two  courses  at  once.  She  is  internally  divided 
against  herself.  Being  more  than  any  other 
nation  dependent  upon  a  state  of  peace,  she  has 
to  sacrifice  interests  of  humanity,  honor,  and 
authority.  She  is  in  a  corner  where  she  is  com- 
pelled to  aid  her  rivals  in  disgraceful  acts 
against  humanity.  She  has  stood  by  while 
Turkey  has  committed  atrocities  upon  her  Chris- 
tian subjects  such  as  would  have  disgraced  the 
most  barbarous  nations  in  the  darkest  of  the 
dark  ages.  Nay,  she  actually  has  lent  her  aid 
in  carrying  out  the  policy  of  Russia  and  Ger- 
many— the  two  greatest  foes  of  human  liberty — 
in  coercing  Crete,  humiliating  and  paralyzing 
Greece,  and  thereby  crushing  out  all  movement 
toward  freedom  and  democracy  in  the  East. 
She  has  become  the  instrument  of  dirty  work  for 
the  despotic  nations." 

^^^^OnJFgJxaiarjL.i,;lh,  h^^^r.ui,iL.i  Oilin  r>r  Biivfi 
ria,  who  had  been  prppoRf^d  by, FrauoQy  wa,^  tiaiiTPd 
King  of  the  Hellenes,     His  father.  King  Lewis, 
insisted  upon  the  annexation  of  Crete,  but  was 


200     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK, 

no  more  successful  in  obtaining  it  than  had  been 
Prince  Leopold.  Otho  was  sent  to  reign  over  a 
country  of  which  Thiersch  said:  An  Hellas 
which  did  not  embrace  the  Ionian  Islands,  nor 
Crete,  nor  Thessaly,  nor  Epirus,  did  not  deserve 
the  name,  and  was  incapable  of  either  maintain- 
ing her  own  independence  or  of  educating  her- 
self for  the  destiny  to  which  Providence  seemed 
to  be  calling  her. 

Leopold  became  King  of  Belgium.  He  has 
been  called  the  first  of  statesman -kings  of  his 
day  or  perhaps  of  his  century.  How  fortunate 
for  Greece  would  it  have  been  if  this  man  had 
become  her  ruler,  a  full  grown  man  of  thirty, 
and  a  trained  soldier!  Belgium  secured  under 
him  and  his  son  Leopold  II.,  the^^resent  king, 
sixty-five  years  of  wise  and /Steady  rule.  Un- 
happy Greece  got  King  Qfho,  a  princeling  of 
seventeen,  absolutely  ignorant  of  kingcraft,  ut- 
terly incompetent  to  govern  a  people  new  born 
from  a  bloody  war.  It  il&  true,  Otho^was  ani- 
mated by  excellent  intentionv^Jo^jie^of  justice, 
and  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  adopted  country ; 
but  all  these  good  qualities  were  not  sufficient ; 
it  required  more  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  the 
task  imposed  upon  him. 

What    Leopold   was   too   wise   to    undertake. 


GREECE    BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.        20I 

Europe  committed  to  this  child  Otho,  and  as  we 
shall  see  further  on,  held  Greece  responsible. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  in 
Greece  the  sovereigns  of  France,  Great  Britain, 
and  Russia  pledged  themselves  for  a  loan  of 
60,000,000  francs  for  the  new  king.  The  money 
was  to  be  raised  in  three  series,  each  of  20,000,- 
000;  the  first  series  at  once,  the  others  as  the  new 
government  should  be  in  need  of  them.  The 
diplomatic  representatives  of  the  three  powers 
in  Athens  had  to  see  to  or  to  supervise  the  pay- 
ment of  this  debt,  which  was  to  be  in  seventy- 
two  half-yearly  instalments.  The  interest  was 
six  per  cent,  which  was  deducted  beforehand. 
Rothschild,  who  put  the  loan  in  the  market,  was 
allowed  two  per  cent  commission.  Four  mil- 
lions were  lost  by  the  rate  at  which  the  loan 
stood  in  the  market;  1 1,000,000  were  at  once  to 
be  paid  to  Turkey  for  an  improvement  of  the 
Greek  frontiers,  which  arrangement  had  been 
made  by  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the 
powers  on  July  21st,  1832.  A  pitiful  increment 
of  territory  was  thus  conditioned  on  the  payment 
of  1 1 ,000,000  to  Turkey  by  the  unfortunate  coun- 
try, which  the  Turkish  mercenaries  had  ren- 
dered a  desert.  Greece  was  made  to  pay  for  this 
operation  out  of  this  first  of  the  vicious  loans. 


202      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

Of  the  60,000,000  francs  loaned  less  than  one- 
third  found  its  way  into  the  Greek  treasury.  The 
principal  of  60,000,000,  however,  has  been  paid 
in  the  stipulated  half-yearly  instalments,  the  last 
of  these  in  the  year  1871.  The  history  of  this 
first  loan  made  to  Greece  with  all  its  details  has 
been  written  in  a  voluminous  work  by  Professor 
Herman  von  Sicherer,  entitled  "  Das  bayerisch- 
griechische  Anlehen  aus  den  Jahren  1835,  1836, 
1837.  Ein  Rechtsgutachten."  Miinchen,  1880. 
The  king  was  sent  with  money,  with  papers 
representing  Greece's  debt  of  60,000,000  francs, 
a  debt  contracted  in  the  name  of  the  country 
which  was  virtually  a  stranger  to  the  whole 
transaction,  and  which  was  bound  down  by  this 
load  in  the  shape  of  principal  and  interest  before 
it  was  ever  ascertained  j*^at  its  revenues  were 
likely  to  be. 

\With  the  kin^^me  a  numerous  body  of  Ba- 
rian  tropf^  infantry,  cavalry,  artillery,  and 
engine^fs,  nine  thousand  in  all,  flushed  with 
military  enthusiasm.  The  glittering  arms  of 
these  fine  troops  and  the  golden  prospects  of  the 
high  pay  secured  by  the  funds  which  the  allied 
powers  had  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  in  direct  contrast  with  the  sight  of 
bands  of  irregular  and  lawless  Greek  soldiers,  a 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.         203 

half-clad  people  suffering  under  the  pressure  of 
famine  in  a  country  everywhere  laid  waste,  in 
which  far  and  wide  no  tree,  no  cottage  could  be 
seen. 

Indeed  the  war  had  reduced  the  surviving 
population  to  a  state  of  the  most  complete  desti- 
tution. All  agricultural  stock  was  extirpated; 
houses,  barns,  and  stables  were  destroyed ;  fruit- 
trees  and  vineyards  rooted  up.  The  destruction 
of  agricultural  cattle  was  so  complete  that  Pro- 
fessor Thiersch  proposed  to  import  ten  thousand 
pair  of  cattle  the  first  and  tpn  thousand  the 
second  year.  The  professor  was  laughed  at, 
but  he  was  right ;  Greece  had  more  need  of  beef 
than  of  Bavarians. 

The  sword,  the  famine,  and  disease  had  re- 
duced the  inhabitants  of  the  mainland  and  of 
Morea  to  about  one-third  of  their  original  num- 
ber. There  has  been  no  war  in  modern  times 
in  which  an  equal  loss  of  property  and  life  has 
been  sustained  by  any  people,  who  despite 
this  suffering  have  remained  unsubdued.  From 
1 82 1  to  1832  Greece  had  been  deprived  of  every 
internal  revenue.  Her  commerce  was  com- 
pletely annihilated.  The  commercial  navy 
which  had  formerly  added  to  the  national  wealth 
suddenly  became   a   drain   on   former   savings. 


204      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

There  were  no  revenues  with  which  to  pay  and 
provision  the  fleet,  to  purchase  stores  and  am- 
munition, to  pay  for  repair  of  vessels.  All  had 
to  be  furnished  from  the  former  savings  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  ships.  The  leading  families 
of  Hydra  acquitted  themselves  of  this  duty 
nobly.  Wealthy  families  have  been  reduced  to 
want  and  thrice  suicide  has  been  committed  to 
escape  starvation.  Even  with  the  immense  sup- 
plies which  Greece  received  from  the  Philhel- 
lenic committees  of  Europe  and  America,  the 
revolution  seemed  not  infrequently  to  be  in 
danger  of  extinction  from  the  actual  starvation 
of  the  whole  population. 

The  establishment  of  new  Greece  by  the 
powers  was  an  evident  mockery.  No  nation 
whatsoever  could  have  flourished  under  the  con- 
ditions given  in  this  case.  The  Greeks  were  ex- 
horted to  be  free  with  their  chains  half-severed, 
to  run  in  the  race  with  shackles  on  their  feet, 
to  be  a  model  for  the  very  Europe  which  from 
the  beginning  demoralized  them.  Europe  de- 
manded an  impossibility  of  Grecee.  r\ 

Of    the    regency   which    acted  during-  Kii|g  y< 
Otho's  minority  no  onk  understooid'"a   word  or 
Greek.       Had   this    regen??7-~cohsisted   of    men 
more  experienced  in  practical  affairs,  its  mem 


GREECE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  1 897.    205 

bers  would  have  felt  that  their  foreign  troops 
were  too  numerous  and  much  too  expensive 
(they  cost  20,000,000  francs  in  two  years)  for 
a  permanent  royal  guard.  These  Bavarian 
troops  received  higher  pay  than  the  Greek.  Ba- 
varian officers  were  promoted  in  rank,  while 
Greek  officers  and  Philhellenes  were  reduced. 
This  was  the  first  cause  of  the  complaints  of  the 
Greeks  and  Philhellenes  against  V^at  was  called 
the  Bavarian  system  of  the  army'.  The  men  of 
the  regency  were  incapable  of  either  under- 
standing or  appreciating  the  quick  and  fiery,  but 
honest  and  enthusiastic  nation.  The  Greeks, 
elated  by  victory,  ridiculed  the  pedantic  forms 
and  vain  regulations  to  which  the  Bavarians  en- 
deavored to  reduce  them,  and  which  were 
diametrically  opposed  to  their  habits,  and  use- 
less in  reality.  The  Bavarians,  instead  of  hu- 
moring, exasperated  them  by  a  show  of  force. 
The  Bavarians  insisted,  and  men  who  had 
fought  for  their  country  and  had  endured  untold 
privations  for  years  past,  in  order  to  obtain 
liberty,  and  who  by  their  heroism  had  obtained 
immortal  fame,  now  found  themselves  dragged 
into  prison  and  treated  with  contempt  by  men 
who  had  no  title  to  power  but  what  chance  had 
given  them,  and  who  individually  were  nonenti- 


206      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

ties  as  compared  with  Kolokotronis,  Grivas,  and 
Phlessas.  A  wise  administration,  understand- 
ing the  people  and  bearing  with  their  foibles, 
would  have  had  a  golden  opportunity  to  bring 
on  peace  between  the  people  and  the  govern- 
ment. The  mistake  once  made  brought  on  diffi- 
culties which  could  not  be  overcome  in  a  coun- 
try demoralized  by  many  centuries  of  barbarous 
slavery  and  completely  unsettled  by  many  years 
of  a  devastating  war. 

In  describing  now  the  condition,  the  politics 
of  Greece,  I  avail  myself  of  a  pamphlet  which  I 
found  in  the  library  of  the  Historical  and  Ethno- 
logical Museum  of  Athens.  The  author  was 
not  named;  the  paper  was  written  in  1870.'^ 

The  anonymous  author  says :  "  I  desire  to  put 
forward  what  I  believe  to  be  a  true  and  impar- 
tial statement  to  vindicate  the  calumniated,  to 
expose  abuse  which  is  simply  infamous,  and  to 
repel  accusations  which  are  directed  against  the 
Greek  people  and  which  are  untrue,  unmerited, 
and  unscrupulous.  .  .  ,  Correspondents  take  a 
particular  pleasure  in  endeavoring  to  make  out, 

*  Only  after  this  part  of  the  book  was  in  type  did  I  learn 
that  the  author  of  the  pamphlet  here  quoted  is  J.  Gennadius, 
the  same  from  whom  I  have  quoted  already,  and  who  later  on 
became,  and  continued  until  recently,  Minister  Plenipotenti- 
ary of  Greece  to  England. 


GREECE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  1 897.    20/ 

whenever  the  chance  offers,  as  black  a  case  as 
possible  against  the  Greek  people." 

The  author  also  tells  that  the  English  news- 
papers had  refused  to  accept  his  statement,  and 
that  he  was  obliged  to  have  it  published  at  his 
own  expense,  and  thus  to  come  forward  in  an 
unusual  way. 

It  was  the  plea  of  the  great  powers  that  the 
new  government  required  not  only  armed  pro- 
tection, but  political  guidance.  But  the  three 
flags  which  floated  beside  the  banner  of  the 
Greek  cross  covered  also  the  distinct  interests 
of  the   several   protecting    powers  which    they 

represented.. This   protectorate    of    the    three 

great  powers  w^  a  systematic  interference  in 
the  affairs  of  the  'country,  thus  paralyzing  the 
government,  debasing  it  in  the  eyes  of  its  sub- 
jects. "  Political  passions,  thanks  to  the  jeal- 
ousies of  the  three  "protecting"  powers,  ra«r 
high.  The  unfortunate  country  had  been  m^de 
the  chess^Doard  of  European  diplomacy  and  was 
^'"^^J^^riinto  three  great  parties,  the  English,  the 
French,'  and  the  Russian,  with,  the... -r^pective 
ambassade>r,^at  the  head  of  eachj,-.---''''''^ 

The  young  2ing~Onio7perplexed  in  the  midst 
of  this  state  of  things,  the  more  so  as  he  was 
surrounded   by  many  counsellors  among  whom 


208      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

existed  also  a  diversity  of  opinion,  committed 
inevitable  errors  of  judgment.  To  his  credit 
it  may  be  said  that  he  alone  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility for  all  the  actions  of  his  government. 
This  brought  on  him  charges  of  maladministra- 
tion for  which  he  was  only  partly  guilty. 

The  powers  intrigued  to  bring  this  or  that 
party  at  the  direction  of  affairs ;  instead  of  pro- 
tecting the  Greek  kingdom,  they  worked  toward 
the  dangers  of  revolution.  Thus  in  1830  and 
1840  Russia  organized  the  vast  conspiracy  of 
the  Philorthodox ;  iruTBijj  Pur;p.in  nruLJu^lnnd 
combined  pushed  energetically  the  event  of 
the  3d  of  September  (demand  of  a  constitu- 
tion) ;  in  1 847  England  excited  formidable  re- 
volts in  Euboea,  in  Phthiosis,  and  Archsea.  In 
1850  the  persistent  ill-will  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment showed  itself  especially  in  the  Pacifico 
affair.  Lord  Palmerston  sent  the  British  fleet 
into  the  Piraeus  under  the  pretext  of  supporting 
the  ridiculous  claims  of  the  Jew  Pacifico. 

Otho  had  hardly  attained  his  majority  when 
risings  took  place  in  Epiros  and  in  Crete.  They 
were  crushed  one  after  the  other.  In  1840,  on 
the  outbreak  of  a  struggle  between  the  Sultan 
and  his  great  vassal  in  Egypt,  Crete,  together 
with    Epiros,    Thessaly,    and    Macedonia,   then 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE  WAR  OF    1 897.        209 

thought  that  the  hour  of  deliverance  had  struck. 
The  Crete  population  rose  as  one  man,  and  the 
Cretans  made  themselves  the  masters  of  the 
whole  island,  but  supported  by  England  the 
Turks  were  able  to  drown  the  rising  in  blood. 
If  the  Greeks  had  possessed  the  necessary  prep- 
arations, and  if  Europe  had  not  come  to  the 
rescue  of  the  Ottoman  dynasty,  the  Greeks 
might  even  have  succeeded  in  overthrowing  it. 

Since  then  things  have  changed.  Turkey  re- 
gained strength ;  her  foreign  relations  became 
such  that  in  case  of  necessity  she  could  count 
upon  the  help  of  some  of  the  European  powers. 
Maurokodatos  in  a  memorandum  placed  before 
King  Otho  in  1 848  says :  "  When  we  speak  of 
Turkey,  we  of  course  know  too  much  to  share 
the  delusions  of  the  Westerns^  who,  for  the  most 
part,  neitjier  know  her  nor  (it  would  appear) 
wish  t<5K:now  her." 

tter  ten  years  of  absolutism,  the  Greeks,  by 
a  h&oodless  revolution,  wrested  fron>^  King  Otho 
tha^constitution  of  1843.  Things, Went  on  better 
but  Vpt  until  the  Crimean  war-.^' 

The^^hopes^f  the^Ucirenes  were  reawakened 

with    the    prospects   which    this   war    between 

Russia  and  Turks   seemed  to   open.      Russian 

emissaries  brought  about  a  rising  in  the    Hel- 
14 


2IO      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

lenic  provinces  of  Turkey.  Epiros  and  Thes- 
saly  broke  into  insurrection  at  the  beginning  of 
1854.  Greek  volunteers  went  to  the  Crimea. 
At  home  the  prospect  of  another  struggle  to 
complete  the  work  of  independence  was  received 
with  enthusiasm.  Armed  bands  crossed  the 
frontier  to  join  their  insurgent  fellow-country- 
men. The  people,  the  army,  and  the  court  all 
gave  themselves  up  to  the  most  brilliant  dreams. 
Hellas  was  soon  undeceived.  The  allies,  France 
and  England,  would  not  tolerate  a  diversion  in 
favor  of  Russia. 

France  occupied  the  Piraeus  from  May  26th, 
1854,  till  February  27th,  1857;  the  Greeks  found 
themselves  reduced  to  absolute  powerlessness, 
and  the  insurrection  in  the  border  provinces  was 
soon  crushed  by  the  arms  of  the  Turks.  The 
history  of  this  Greek  inactivity  in  the  Russo- 
Turkish  war  is  still  a  mystery.  At  the  moment 
when  this  war  broke  out  Hellas  possessed  an 
army  of  between  35,000  and  40,000 Vnen/''  If  she 
had  interfered  in  the  struggle,  the  Wsult  would 
have  been  a  general  rising  in  Turkey  and  the 
radical  and  definitive  solution  of  the  Greco- 
Turkish  difficulties.  The  states  of  Epiros,  Thes- 
saly,  and  Crete  urged  the  Greeks  to  interfere. 
Hellas,    knowing  the   complications    which    the 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.         211 

general  collapse  of  Turkey  might  produce  both 
in  the  East  and  the  West,  hesitated  and  finally 
consented  to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  Europe. 
She  consented  to  contribute  her  part  to  realize 
the  wishes  of  the  powers  for  an  immediate  pa- 
cification and  checked  the  action  which  had 
already  begun  for  the  realization  of  what  the 
Hellenes  have  desired  for  so  many  centuries. 
This  she  did  after  having  received  from  Europe 
a  promise  that  the  rights  of  the  Hellenic  race 
should  be  taken  into  consideration.  The  Hel- 
lenic government  could  not  leave  the  inhabitants 
of  the  insurgent  provinces  exposed  to  all  the 
horrors  of  a  bloody  repression  by  the  undis- 
ciplined troops  employed  by  the  Turks  for  that 
purpose ;  it  therefore  decided  to  occupy  the  prov- 
inces provisionally.  Diplomacy  saw  the  danger  of 
a  fresh  conflagration  which  the  armed  interven- 
tion of  Greece  was  ca|!>able  of  enkindling.  The 
utmost  possible  amdunt  of  pressure  was  therefore 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  government  of  Athens 
in  order  to  induce  it  to  withdraw  the  troops; 
these  recrossed  the  frontier  upon  the  solemn  as- 
surance of  the  great  powers  that  the  national 
aspirations  and  interests  of  the  Greeks  should  be 
tbje  subject  of  the  deliberations  of  the  approach- 
ing congress. 


212      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

When  the  Italians,  through  their  revolution 
from  1859  to  i860,  obtained  their  independence 
and  were  soon  to  obtain  their  unity  through  the 
help  of  France,  the  Greeks  hoped  that  Italy 
would  do  for  Hellas  what  France  had  done  for 
Italy.  The  Hellenic  cause  had  warm  friends  in 
Italy.  There  were  ne^tiations  with  Garibaldi, 
but  while  this  new  insW-rection  wasj^hg  pre- 
pared there  began  to  breaKlSuTthose  agitations 
which  ended  in  the  dethronement  of  King  Otho. 

There  were  then,  and  there  still  are,  those 
who  attribute  his  fall  to  the  action  of  English 
agents.  England  justified  the  act.  "  Her  Maj- 
esty's Government,"  wrote  Earl  Russell,  "can- 
not deny  that  the  Greeks  have  good  and  suffi- 
cient cause  for  the  step  they  have  taken." 

The  king  yielded  without  resistance  to  the 
revolution  which  overthrew  his  dynasty,  thus 
giving  Hellas  a  last  proof  of  his  love  for  her  by 
deliberately  sparing  her  the  woes  of  civil  war. 
He  left  the  land  of  his  adoption  with  words  of 
farewell  full  of  majesty,  and  good  wishes  for  her 
ha^pi^f  gl^  which  were  dictated  by  a  sincere 
le  Hellenes  have  not  forgotten  his 
»e-,  but  thgy  nrc^c^r  recaliing''"his  gS^a 

r|iia1itjp>^       nrfcu=y-^4MamfiiT|'bfir   hnmJIw-^^Pfr  their 


GREECE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  1 897.   213 

At  King  Othp's  departure  in  1862  the  king- 
dom was  confined  within  the  same  narrow  limits 
which   i^'liad   occupied  when   he  came  to  the 
The   statesman-king   Leopold  at  that 
e  had  been  building  up  a  strong  state  in  Bel- 


King  George,  the  new  king  who  took  the 
throne  in  1862,  brought  to  Greece  on  his  arrival 
the  news  of  the  annexation  of  the  Heptannesos. 
The  resigning  of  the  protectorate  of  the  Heptan- 
nesos was  a  generous  gift  from  England,  and  it 
was  all  the  more  appreciated  because  it  was  un- 
expected. It  appears  that  the  generosity  was 
the  expression  of  England's  satisfaction  at  hav- 
ing got  rid  of  King  Otho.  It  certainly  grati- 
fied the  wishes  of  the  islanders  and  it  was 
considered  a  striking  mark  of  friendship, 
and  this  gave  rise  to  the  greatest  hopes  for  the 
future. 

Not  all  the  statesmen  of  England  agreed  as  to 
the  cession.  Lord  Derby  wrote  to  Lord  Mal- 
meiroy  on  December  22d,  1862:  "I  think  the 
measure  at  any  time  one  of  very  doubtful  policy, 
but  the  present  moment  appears  to  me  singu- 
larly ill-chosen.  It  strikes  me  as  the  height  of 
folly  to  make  a  gratuitous  offer  of  cession,  and  to 
throw  the  islands  at  the  head   of   a   nation   in 


214     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

the  very  throes  of  revolution,  whose  finances 
are  bankrupt,  whose  naval  power  is  insignifi- 
cant," etc. 

The  lonians  have  not  had  to  regret  their  re- 
union with  the  rest  of  Hellas,  and  to  Hellas  this 
annexation  was  a  fortunate  thing.  How  much 
more  might  be  hoped  for  other  Hellenic  lands, 
especially  Crete,  whose  case  is  so  much  more 
crying  because  the  Cretans  are  under  the  in- 
tolerable administration  of  the  Turks ! 

The  Cretans  endeavored  to  gain  for  them- 
selves the  same  good  fortune  which  had  fallen 
upon  the  lonians.  They  defied  Turkey  for  three 
years — 1866,  1867,  1868.  With  the  exception 
of  certain  fortresses,  the  whole  island  was  free. 
Acts  of  heroism  and  sacrifice  again  challenged 
the  attention  of  the  world.  Hellenes  of  the 
mainland  came  to  their  brethren  in  the  hour  of 
danger  to  fight  at  their  side,  and  opened  in  their 
own  homes  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  women  and 
children  of  the  island.  Nearly  sixty  thousand 
fugitives  found  protection. 

The  deliverance  of  Crete  seemed  to  be  accom- 
plished. Russia  and  France  were  favorably  dis- 
posed, but  England,  supported  by  Austria,  op- 
posed. Diplomacy  fought  for  the  enslavement 
of  the   Cretans  with   as   much   persistence  and 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.         2  1$ 

better  success  than  it  had  opposed  the  deliver- 
ance of  Greece. 

The  islanders  gained  by  their  struggle  noth- 
ing but  a  doubtful  amelioration  of  their  condition. 
A  sort  of  a  charter  was  extracted  from  the  Porte 
in  1868,  under  the  name  of  the  Organic  Regula- 
tion, which  has  never  been  put  in  force.  At  the 
time  of  the  Congress  of  Berlin  they  thought 
once  more  that  they  would  succeed;  they  only 
received  another  paper,  a  sort  of  a  mockery,  "  to 
enforce  scrupulously  the  Organic  Regulation  of  1868, 
ivith  such  modifications  as  might  be  judged  equi- 
table r 

The  history  of  the  Greek  question  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Berlin  and  the  conferences  which  fol- 
lowed it  is  very  voluminous,  since  many  docu- 
ments have  been  published,  but  it  throws  no 
light  on  the  motives  which  inspired  the  action 
or  inaction  of  each  government  which  took  part 
therein. 

The  Greeks  desired  from  the  Berlin  Congress 
the  fulfilment  of  the  hopes  which  they  had  en- 
tertained ever  since  1 82 1 ,  namely,  the  liberation 
of  the  entire  race,  not  only  of  a  fraction,  since 
their  government  was  under  no  delusion  as  to 
the  many  difficulties  with  which  the  realization 
of  that  wish  had  to  deal.     It  felt  bound  to  be 


2l6      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

contented  for  the  time  being  with  the  annexation 
of  Crete  and  of  the  border  provinces,  this  being 
all  which  was  at  that  moment  practicable. 

On  July  5th,  1878,  the  Congress  assigned  to 
Hellas  the  whole  of  Thessaly  and  a  large  part  of 
Epiros.  The  island  of  Crete  was  not  included. 
This  resolution  of  the  Congress  was  sanctioned 
by  the  Conference  of  Berlin  on  July  ist,  1880. 
But  all  this  was  given  on  paper  only.  Greece 
was  left  to  sue  the  Turk,  cap  in  hand,  for  the 
provinces  given  on  paper.  When  Turkey  found 
that  she  was  not  confronted  by  united  Europe 
determined  to  be  obeyed,  she  refused  to  submit. 
Poor  Greece,  instead  of  being  able  to  dedicate 
herself  to  the  work  of  internal  development, 
was  left  to  put  herself  in  possession.  The 
mobilization  of  her  forces  swallowed  up  the  en- 
tire sum  of  the  great  loan  of  1881. 

On  July  2d,  1881,  three  years  after  the  signing 
of  the  famous  protocol  of  Berlin,  Hellas  signed 
the  convention  by  which  Turkey  ceded  to  her  the 
flat  part  of  Thessaly  and  a  small  strip  of  Epiros. 
She  signed  this  convention,  but  she  protested 
that  the  faults  of  the  new  frontier  would  soon 
give  rise  to  new  difficulties  and  dangers.  "  Eu- 
rope," in  the  words  of  Koumoundouros,  "had 
allowed  her  own  work  to  be  undone  for  the  sake 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.        2  1/ 

of  humoring  Turkey ;  .  .  .  Epiros  and  Thessaly 
have  the  right  to  be  free,  a  right  which  Europe 
has  admitted  and  Hellas  accepted ;  it  will  seem 
incredible  to  them  that  the  European  govern- 
ments should  have  played  with  their  sufferings, 
or  should  have  recanted  their  own  doctrines  for 
no  object  but  to  please  Turkey." 

Greece's  narrow  artificial  limits  condemn  her 
to  be  always  looking  to  her  frontiers,  and  the 
present  Hellenic  state  has  been  passing  for  the 
last  fifty  years  from  one  crisis  into  another, 
which  were  followed  by  periods  of  exhaustion. 
Hellas  had  hardly  recovered  from  the  struggles 
and  the  sacrifices  which  it  cost  her  to  obtain  a 
fraction  of  the  territory  which  had  been  added 
to  her  by  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  when  the  re- 
union of  eastern  Roumelia  with  Bulgaria  and 
the  results  of  this  violation  of  the  treaty  of 
Berlin  involved  her  in  new  difficulties. 

Many  hold  King  George  responsible  for 
many  evils  because  he  could  not  retain  a  stable 
ministry  of  state.  But  the  political  parties,  which 
in  their  fight  with  each  other  caused  the  many 
changes,  existed  before  he  was  called  to  govern. 
If  he  had  attempted  to  suppress  them  he  might 
perhaps  have  brought  on  greater  evils.  It  was 
his  idea  to  allow  the  people  of  Greece  to  cause 


2l8      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

their  own  constitutional  education.  The  chaos 
of  administration  which  had  so  long  existed — 
the  average  duration  of  the  time  a  prime 
minister  held  his  office  was  not  calculated  by 
years  but  by  months — seemed  to  have  ceased 
when  Tricupis  took  charge  of  affairs  for  the 
first  time  and  remained  in  office  for  over  three 
years. 

It  is  one  of  the  current  remarks  of  a  certain 
class  of  writers  that  Greece,  until  she  can  govern 
what  she  has,  is  unfit  to  be  entrusted  with  a 
larger  area.  When  we  shall  come  to  con.sider 
in  what  condition  Greece  has  been  at  the  end  of 
the  war  of  independence,  and  how  she  has  devel- 
oped in  spite  of  the  difficulties  which  the  Euro- 
pean powers  have  caused  her,  we  shall  unhesi- 
tatingly disagree  with  this  view;  but  we  have 
a  more  powerful  argument  against  it.  The  dif- 
ficulty Greece  experienced  thus  far  in  govern- 
ing the  area  she  has — and  this  is  mainly  a  finan- 
cial question — is  entirely  due,  as  Prince  Leopold 
has  so  correctly  foreseen  and  as  foregoing  pages 
of  these  lectures  show,  to  the  very  restricted 
limits  of  that  area. 

The  constant  strain  on  her  financially  is  very 
severe  and  is  never  relaxed;  the  feeling  of  un- 
rest, the  repeated  mobilizations  to  liberate  the 


GREECE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  1 897.   219 

brethren  who  are  still  in  Turkish  slavery  are 
impediments  to  her  routine  work  of  internal 
progress. 

The  finances  of  Greece  have  been  the  subject 
of  much  discussion ;  to  enter  into  details  would 
require  a  long  treatise  by  itself.  A  clear  state- 
ment has  been  published  by  Joseph  D.  Beck- 
mann,  in  November,  1892.  It  is  contained  in  a 
pamphlet,  entitled  "Les  Finances  de  la  Grece, 
6tude  composee  sur  la  bare  de  documents  au- 
thentiques."  Up  to  1880  the  Greek  foreign  debt 
(nominal — perhaps  but  half  of  the  money  they 
owed  has  ever  reached  the  Greek  treasury) 
amounted  to  256,000,000  francs.  With  that  year 
began  a  series  of  heavy  loans,  amounting  up  to 
1892  to  a  total  of  539,448,421  francs,  and  bring- 
ing the  total  public  debt  (nominal)  up  to  the  stu- 
pendous figure  of  818,476,339  francs.  Of  this 
sum  130,192,159  francs  constituted  the  floating 
debt. 

This  constant  borrowing  of  money  had  a  de- 
moralizing effect  on  the  nation;  nevertheless 
with  all  her  borrowing  Greece  was  not  utterly 
reckless.  Tricupis  had  a  constant  and  rational 
policy.  It  was  to  develop  the  country  by  means 
of  highways  and  railways,  harbors,  lighthouses, 
and,  above  all,  to  re-establish  sound  money.     In 


220      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

1884  ^^  Spent  nearly  70,000,000  francs  in  taking 
up  the  forced  currency,  but  unfortunately  the 
very  next  year  Delyannis  lost  his  head  in  a  fili- 
bustering fit  (into  Roumelia),  mobilized  the 
forces,  and  provoked  a  new  blockade  by  the 
powers.  Of  course  he  brought  back  the  forced 
currency,  which  is  now  larger  than  ever.  M. 
Beckmann,  in  summing  up  his  study  of  Greek 
finance,  says:  "Though  Greece  has  borrowed  a 
large  amount  of  money,  she  has  something  to 
show  for  it.  Thessaly,  many  miles  of  road,  rail- 
ways, a  respectable  little  army,  and  a  very  rapidly 
developing  commerce.  Her  budgets  have  been 
gradually  improving  and  are  now  in  a  stable 
equilibrium. 

But  since  1893  a  new  situation  has  super- 
vened. Then  the  premium  on  gold  was  sixty 
per  cent,  as  against  thirty  per  cent  in  1891 ;  it 
reached  ninety  per  cent  when  Beckmann  pub- 
lished his  pamphlet.  The  purchase  of  gold  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  foreign  debt  (in  the 
budget  of  1893,  35,468,596  francs)  was  a  disas- 
trous operation,  and  commerce  was  paralyzed  by 
the  condition  of  the  money  market.  Then  the 
glut  in  the  current  market  of  the  preceding  sea- 
son cut  off  the  only  surplus  gold  revenue  of  the 
nation,  and  the  payment  of  cash  in  January  be- 


GREECE  BEFORE   THE  WAR   OF    1 897.        221 

came  inevitable,  for  no  government  can  weather 
a  panic. 

Four  years  before  Delyannis  had  been  dis- 
missed by  the  king  because  he  had  failed  to  deal 
successfully  with  the  financial  situation.  Tri- 
cupis  came  in ;  he  brought  forward  a  broad  and 
statesmanlike  project  for  dealing  with  the  situa- 
tion. His  plans  were  not  approved;  he  went 
out  after  having  stood  for  fifteen  years  before 
Europe  as  the  Greek  with  an  honest  and  rational 
financial  policy.  He  came  in  again.  More  than 
once  he  seemed  on  the  very  threshold  of  success, 
when  the  political  whirlpool  would  undo  it  all. 
His  sisyphous  role  seems  at  last  to  have  worn 
him  out,  and  returning  to  power  in  1893  he  pro- 
posed his  now  famous  provisional  reduction  of 
thirty  per  cent  on  the  interest  of  the  gold  loans, 
and  a  compromise  with  the  foreign  creditors. 
This  cost  him  his  European  prestige,  and  his  in- 
ternal programme  did  the  rest.  In  his  long  lease 
of  power  he  had  wiped  out  the  Turkish  land  tithe, 
provided  for  a  sound  currency,  and  rendered 
many  a  noble  service  to  the  country. 

Vincent  Corbett,  second  secretary  of  the  Eng- 
lish legation  to  Greece,  wrote  a  report  on  the 
finances  of  Greece  for  the  year  ending  June  15th, 
1 8^6,   which    was    submitted    on    that    date,  by 


222      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

Edward  H.  Egerton,  Minister  to  Greece,  to  Mar- 
quis of  Salisbury.  After  having  enumerated  the 
different  difficulties  of  the  financial  conditions 
of  the  country,  he  says :  "  But  after  all,  these 
considerations  must  not  be  taken  too  seriously. 
In  no  country  in  the  world  are  there  greater 
material  resources  than  in  Greece,  no  country 
offers  greater  attractions  to  the  student  and  the 
traveller,  and  no  country  can  boast  of  a  more  in- 
dustrious peasantry  or  a  more  intelligent  and 
ambitious  middle  class.  The  government  does 
well  not  to  grudge  expenditures  on  roads  and 
railways,  and  when  the  country  is  opened  up  it 
will  be  its  own  fault  if  Greece  does  not  enter 
upon  a  future  of  prosperity  and  health." 

What  has  Greece  to  show  for  her  blanket 
mortgage?  Sixty-five  years  ago  there  was  not  a 
mile  of  wagon  road,  to-day  there  are  more  than 
three  thousand  miles  built,  often  over  mountains. 
Thirt}''  years  ago  there  were  but  five  miles  of  rail 
connecting  Athens  with  her  seaport,  now  there 
are  seven  hundred  miles  of  railway  in  operation, 
connecting  the  capital  with  most  of  the  Pelopon- 
nese  and  opening  up  a  good  part  of  Acarnania 
and  Thessaly,  while  the  Pirseus  and  Larissa  Rail- 
way traverses  northern  Greece,  thus  bringing  it 
in   direct    communication   with    Europe.      The 


GREECE   BEFORE   THE   WAR   OF    1 897.         223 

Corinth  Canal,  which  Periander  dreamed  of  and 
Nero  began,  has  been  finished.  Lake  Korais 
has  been  drained,  not  only  uncovering  pre-his- 
toric  cities,  but  reclaiming  60,000  acres  of  rich 
alluvial  soil.  The  Greek  merchant  marine  con- 
sists of  120  steamers  and  1,000  sailing-vessels 
and  3  ironclads.  With  a  sea  line  seven  times 
as  great  as  France's  and  twelve  times  as  great  as 
England's,  Greece  maintains  69  lighthouses  and 
is  building  as  many  more.  The  average  in  cur- 
rants and  vineyards  has  increased  a  hundredfold 
and  more  since  the  declaration  of  independence. 

Greece  offers  to  every  Greek  child  within  the 
kingdom  free  public  instruction  from  the  primary 
school  to  the  university.  There  are  2,278  demot- 
ic or  primary  schools,  281  Hellenic  or  grammar 
schools,  41  gymnasia,  special  schools  for  agri- 
culture, of  war,  of  the  navy,  a  polytechnion, 
wherein  are  taught  all  arts  from  chiselling  a  statue 
to  building  a  steam  engine,  and  a  complete  uni- 
versity on  the  German  model,  with  120  professors 
and  3,500  students. 

Her  little  army  is  smaller  than  our  own  (24,- 
877  men  in  1893)  costing  only  2,000,000 
drachmas  a  year,  her  navy  only  600,000. 
Greece  alone  among  European  states  has  ab- 
stained from  following  the  progress  of  military 


224     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

science,  her  army  contenting  itself  with  the  rifle 
of  large  bore.  Ever  since  the  acquisition  of  the 
three  ironclads,  the  question  of  their  supplemen- 
tary armament  has  been  dragging  on,  but  it  has 
not  been  solved  for  economical  reasons. 

The  development  of  the  currant  trade  was  one 
of  the  first  outward  signs  of  the  freedom  of 
Greece.  In  1820  there  were  produced  four 
thousand  tons,  but  the  Turks  persistently  de- 
stroyed the  plants.  The  production  has  since 
steadily  increased:  1830,  8,900  tons;  185 1,  40,- 
510  tons;  1861,  42,759  tons;  1871,  81,374  tons; 
1881,  124,826  tons;   1891,  167,000  tons. 

The  last-named  quantity  was  worth  to  Greece 
70,000,000  francs  in  gold. 

The  olive-trees  form  the  most  familiar  feature 
in  Greek  landscape.  Thus  it  was  of  old  and 
thus  it  continued  to  be  till  Ibrahim  Pasha  cut 
down  two-thirds  of  the  trees.  No  sooner  had 
the  Greeks  gained  independence  than  they  be- 
gan to  plant' olives ;  in  1834  there  were  2,300,000 
trees,  in  i860  370,000  stremmata  with  olive- 
trees,  in  1887,  1,742,154  stremmata. 

A  little  more  knowledge  of  wine  culture,  and 
a  great  deal  more  attention  to  scientific  wine- 
making  ought  to  lead  to  a  very  extensive  in- 
crease in  the  export  of  wine,  as  Greece  can  cer- 


GREECE  BEFORE  THE  WAR  OF  1 897.    22^ 

tainly  produce  better  wines  than  Italy,  even 
including  Sicily,  and  not  improbably  as  good 
wines  as  any  country. 

Greece  far  excels  all  other  countries  in  her 
claims  on  travellers.  No  country  has  the  same 
wonderful  combination  of  scenery  as  Greece. 
The  view  from  the  summit  of  many  Greek 
mountains  is  inconceivably  beautiful.  From 
Parnassus  you  can  see  peak  and  plain,  island 
and  sea  to  great  distances;  from  Zakynthos  to 
Asia  Minor,  and  from  Mount  Athos  to  Crete,  are 
the  most  beautiful  panoramas  known  to  mortals. 
In  no  more  northern  country,  moreover,  is  there 
the  same  clear  air — an  air  that  seems  to  act  magi- 
cally on  distant  objects.  But  the  innermost 
secret  of  Greek  scenery  is  the  sublime  charm  of 
association. 

We  naturally  feel  sympathy  for  the  names  of 
places  taught  and  familiarized  at  school,  when 
we  learned  what  is  the  most  beautiful  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  when  we  heard  first  the  names 
that  pervade  all  history,  all  literature,  and  are 
the  best  in  arts,  in  philosophy,  and  other  sciences. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GREEK    AS     THE     INTERNATIONAL     LANGUAGE     OF 
PHYSICIANS   AND    SCHOLARS   IN    GENERAL.* 

All  those  who  attend  the  international  medi- 
cal congresses  notice  an  unpleasant  circum- 
stance, which  becomes  more  and  more  marked 
with  every  succeeding  assemblage.  It  is  the 
inconvenience  caused  by  the  want  of  one  lan- 
guage understood  by  all.  There  are  some  mem- 
bers who  understand  and  fluently  speak  the  offi- 
cial languages;  they  can  easily  take  part  in 
every  debate,  no  matter  which  official  language 
is  used  by  the  speakers.  But  few  such  members 
can  be  found ;  the  majority  of  the  participants, 
and  among  them  frequently  some  who  are  most 
prominent  in  their  specialties,  understand  but 
one  language,  and  thus  lose  about  two-thirds  of 
everything  spoken  during  the  meeting.  They 
are  often  unable  to  enter  upon  the  discussion  of 
a  question  because  they  cannot  understand  the 
subject  mentioned;  and  if  they  speak  on  some 

*  Read  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  March 
15th,  1894. 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      22/ 

subject,  as  a  rule  it  is  not  understood  by  at  least 
two-thirds  of  the  participants  in  the  congress. 

An  illustration  of  the  difficulty  thus  present- 
ing itself  on  account  of  the  polyglot  condition  of 
these  medical  assemblies  is  found  in  a  letter 
written  by  a  prominent  German  surgeon,  dated 
December  28th,  1892,  to  the  Pfesident  of  the 
American  Surgical  Association,  concerning  the 
Pan-American  Medical  Congress. 

The  languages  of  the  congress  were  the  Span- 
ish, French,  Portuguese,  and  English.  The 
German  was  excluded,  probably  because  it  is 
nowhere  in  America  recognized  as  official. 

The  surgeon  says  in  his  letter :  "  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  the  physicians  of  Germany  will  be 
able  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  transactions  of 
this  Pan-American  Congress,  unless  they  are 
enabled  to  use  the  German  language  in  deliver- 
ing their  lectures.'* 

The  difficulty  in  this  case  was  overcome  by 
changing  the  statutes,  by  allowing  lectures  to  be 
delivered  in  any  language,  provided  that  the 
authors  of  lectures  in  other  than  the  official  lan- 
guages transmit  to  the  general  secretary  a  synop- 
sis, of  not  more  than  six  hundred  words,  before 
a  certain  date  in  advance  of  the  date  of  the  con- 
gress.    A  further   condition  was  that  a  manu- 


228      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

script  of  each  lecture  of  this  kind  was  to  be 
delivered,  before  or  during  the  session,  to  the 
recording  secretary  of  that  section  before  which 
the  essay  was  to  be  read.  Remarks  on  articles 
read  could  be  made  in  any  language,  provided 
the  member  making  such  remarks  handed  them 
in,  before  the  close  of  the  meeting,  written  in 
one  of  the  official  languages.  I  enumerate  these 
details  in  order  to  illustrate  how  complicated  the 
difficulties  of  a  polyglot  congress  are.  Every- 
body can  complete  this  chapter  either  from  per- 
sonal experience  or  by  reflection. 

One  might  think  the  remedy  in  this  dilemma 
would  be  the  adoption  of  a  universal  language, 
and  indeed,  this  idea  has  already  for  a  long  time 
occupied  the  minds  of  the  greatest  thinkers, 
above  all,  of  Leibnitz. .  His  attempt  was  based 
on  the  supposition  that  every  act  of  thinking 
might  successfully  be  reduced  to  an  arithmetical 
basis,  if  it  were  possible  to  discover  symbols  for 
the  most  simple  comprehensions  and  for  the 
combination,  as  well,  of  such  symbols,  as,  for 
instance,  is  done  in  mathematical  science.  Al- 
ready in  his  youth  he  aimed  at  this  purpose  in  a 
well-developed  plan,  maintained  up  to  an  old 
age,  of  a  ^^  Characteristica  universalis,'"  or  ^^ ars 
signum   et  lingua  philosophica,''       However,    this 


GREEK   AS    INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.       229 

plan  was  never  realized.  As  far  as  his  idea  was 
correct,  it  has  been  carried  out  by  the  signs  of 
the  mathematical  and  chemical  sciences.  A 
world-language,  so  far,  exists  only  in  the  tele- 
graphic marine  code. 

As  the  attempts  of  Leibnitz  failed  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  so  also  did  those  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  the  means  of 
communication  increased  in  gigantic  proportion, 
international  commerce  became  of  far  more  im- 
portance than  ever  before,  and  the  attempts  at 
creating  a  world  language  were  resumed.  The 
best  known  of  these  is  the  Volaplik  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Schleyer,  and  the  partial  success  obtained 
for  some  time  by  this  artificial  language  proves 
the  existence  of  a  great  desire  for  an  interna- 
tional means  of  communication. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  object  of  Vola- 
plik, it  could  never  have  been  the  intention  of 
the  inventor,  nor  could  it  have  been  expected  of 
him,  to  make  it  an  international  language  for 
scientific  purposes. 

It  was  an  idea  of  King  Maximilian  of  Bavaria 
to  transmit  to  history  a  reminder  of  his  reign. 
He  instructed  the  architects  of  Germany  to 
design    a    new   style   to   be   named    after    him. 


2  so     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

Such  a  style  of  Maximilianesque  was  created.  I 
have  seen,  in  Munich,  houses  built  after  this 
plan.  An  architect — it  was  Semper,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken — when  asked  to  take  a  part  in  this 
creation  of  the  so-called  Maximilian's  style,  an- 
swered that  such  a  thing  could  not  be  made  to 
order,  that  a  style  of  building  is  the  consequence 
of  the  history,  the  culture,  life,  and  doings  of  a 
great  period  of  a  people.  If  such  be  the  case 
with  a  style  of  architecture,  how  much  more 
must  it  be  the  case  in  regard  to  language  ? 

The  history  of  this  style  of  Maximilian's  is, 
that  it  has  no  history.  This  short  history  is  also 
that  of  the  attempts  to  create  a  new  world  lan- 
guage. 

While  a  universal  language,  sufficient  to  sat- 
isfy the  intellectual  want  of  every  people  and  of 
every  time,  can  be  as  little  imagined  as  the 
equality  of  all  mankind,  still  such  a  uniformity 
is  possible  in  a  restricted  part  of  human  society, 
viz.,  in  that  aristocracy  formed  by  art  and 
science.  It  is  not  the  masses  who  need  such  a 
universal  language,  but  the  men  of  science. 

Since  Latin  is  no  longer  used  as  an  interna- 
tional scientific  language,  the  want  of  such  a 
language  makes  itself  more  and  more  felt  as 
science   extends.      I  do  not  know  if   any,   and 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      23 1 

what,  serious  attempts  have  been  made  in  re- 
gard to  this  desideratum.  I  read  that  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  has  proposed 
that  the  question  of  the  creation  or  adoption  of 
an  international  scientific  language  should  be 
considered  at  a  congress  which  was  to  be  held  at 
Paris  in  connection  with  the  last  exhibition.  I 
read  further  that  the  Societe  de  Medecine  Pra- 
tique had  taken  up  the  question,  and  a  commis- 
sion, consisting  of  representatives  of  the  prin- 
cipal scientific  associations  in  Paris,  had  been 
appointed  to  study  the  matter.  As  far  as  I  have 
learned,  these  associations  set  their  face  abso- 
lutely against  Volapiik. 

Just  at  present  there  is  much  agitation  in 
France  for  reform  of  instruction  and  examina- 
tion in  medicine.  The  Ministry  of  Instruction 
propounded  quite  recently  questions  in  this 
direction,  to  be  decided  upon  by  the  medical 
faculty  of  Paris.  A  commission  of  five  profes- 
sors and  the  rector  of  the  faculty  have  consid- 
ered these  questions,  the  principal  of  which  was 
whether  the  study  of  the  classical  languages 
should  be  abandoned.  The  commission  in  its 
answer  said :  The  physician  is  obliged  to  use  a 
lexicology  which  is  derived  from  the  Greek  and 
the  Latin.     Although  he   may,  without  having 


2  32      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

been  instructed  in  the  classics,  in  the  course  of 
time  acquire  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
pressions, still  there  will  remain  in  such  a  case 
a  sentiment  of  inferiority  because  he  does  not 
know  their  origin.  In  the  interest  of  the  dig- 
nity of  the  profession,  this  sentiment  should  be 
spared  to  the  future  physician.  The  commis- 
sion further  said  it  would  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary that,  in  addition  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
classical  idioms,  the  knowledge  of  one  of  the 
modern  languages  should  be  required,  namely, 
the  German.  In  the  present  condition  of  med- 
ical science,  which  derives  its  elements  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  every  physician  ought  to 
be  somewhat  of  a  polyglot. 

The  rivalry  of  the  nations  is  against  the  em- 
ployment— as  an  international  language — of  on^ 
of  those  principally  spoken  in  the  civilized 
world,  such  as  English,  French,  or  German.  In 
addition  these  languages  are  insufficient  for  the 
expression  of  new  ideas  and  for  the  composition 
of  words.  Even  as  it  is  now,  the  English, 
French,  and  German  scholars  have  one  thing  in 
common :  they  borrow  from  one  and  the  same 
language  when  new  words  have  to  be  formed 
for  new  things.  They  borrow  from  the  Greek, 
from  that  language  which  has  many  claims  to  be 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.       233 

preferred  to  every  other  in  the  selection  of  a 
universal  language  for  scholars. 

Sola  virtus  in  stia  potestate  est ;  omnia  prcBter 
earn  subjecta  sunt  fortunes  dominationi.  This  sen- 
tence of  a  Latin  poet  can  well  be  applied  to  the 
Greek  language.  As  Virtue,  and  Virtue  only,  is 
her  own  master,  not,  as  are  all  other  things, 
subject  to  the  influence  of  Fortune,  so  is  Greek, 
and  Greek  only,  of  all  European  languages,  her 
own  master. 

If  we  take  up  a  Greek  dictionary  written  for 
Greeks,  we  notice  that  it  contains  no  foreign 
words.  The  Greeks  love  their  language  as  they 
love  their  religion.  They  are  jealous  to  pre- 
serve its  purity.  The  use  of  a  foreign  word  in 
Greek  conversation  is  as  detestable  to  an  edu- 
cated Greek  as  is  swearing  to  a  well-bred  Ameri- 
can. English,  French,  Italian,  Spanish  cannot 
be  learned  satisfactorily  without  a  knowledge  of 
Greek  and  Latin ;  and  German,  an  original  lan- 
guage, has  become  so  much  confused  by  admix- 
ture with  foreign  words  that  a  knowledge  of  at 
least  Greek  and  Latin  is  indispensable  to  its  un- 
derstanding. 

The  fact  that  Greek  is  the  only  living  homo- 
geneous language  is  one  of  the  many  reasons 
why  it  should  be  chosen  as  the  future  interna- 


^34      CHRiStiAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GtlEElC. 

tional  language  of  physicians  and  scholars  in 
general. 

In  choosing  the  Greek  no  mutual  rivalry  need 
be  taken  into  consideration.  It  is  the  old,  old 
idiom  of  a  small  nation  and  of  a  small  country. 
The  language  is  rich  and  is  musical,  clear  and 
precise,  and  especially  abounding  in  combina- 
tions. It  is  able  to  render  every  modern  idea 
completely,  and  already  it  has,  in  this  regard, 
given  life  to  thousands  of  words.  In  thousands 
of  schools,  and  in  every  university,  it  forms  a 
necessary  part  of  instruction.  Not  only  do  we 
use  a  multitude  of  Greek  words  in  our  daily  in- 
tercourse, but  our  entire  medical  lexicology,  also 
the  general  nomenclature  of  the  arts  and  of 
sciences,  is,  for  the  most  part,  dominated  by  the 
Greek  language. 

The  magnificent  structures  of  the  ancient 
Greeks,  their  equally  splendid  works  of  sculp- 
ture, have  been  so  little  approached  by  us  that 
nobody,  in  the  whole  world,  would  entertain  the 
possibility  of  a  comparison  in  our  favor  when 
modern  achievements  are  contrasted  with  the 
masterpieces  of  Greek  art.  The  temple  of  the 
Olympian  Jupiter,  the  Acropolis  of  Athens, 
the  Venus  of  Melos,  the  Hermes  of  Praxiteles, 
are  proofs  that  the  Greeks  had  a  much  better  de- 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      23$ 

veloped  sense  of  beauty  than  any  other  people 
of  a  later  age. 

Greek  art  is  still  alive,  for  it  affords  the  high- 
est examples  for  our  architects  and  sculptors. 
Everybody  knows  this  to  be  a  fact. 

The  Greek  language  still  lives,  the  same  old 
Greek  which  is  taught  in  our  schools — taught, 
however,  by  the  eye  only.  It  is  spoken  by 
seven  million  people,  and  it  is  more  beautiful 
and  noble  than  any  other  language,  just  as 
Greek  art  is  more  beautiful  and  more  noble  than 
any  other.  There  are,  however,  but  few  who 
seem  to  be  be  aware  of  this  fact. 

Greek  has  once  before  now  been  the  world's 
language.  Its  use  was  extended  over  a  larger 
territory  than  the  Latin.  **  Grceca  leguntur  in 
omnibtis  fere  gentibus,  Latina  suis  finibus,'"  says 
Cicero.  "  La  langue  grecque  deviendrait  la  langue 
tmiverselle, "  Voltaire  wrote.  The  humanists  at  the 
end  of  the  Middle  Ages  caused  its  Renaissance. 

Let  us  hope  that  a  second  Renaissance  and  a 
brilliant  period  of  the  study  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage will  ensue,  the  final  purpose  of  which  can 
only  be  the  greatest  possible  extension  of  gen- 
uine science  and  culture. 

The    colleges   have    sprung    from    the    Latin 


236      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

schools  of  the  Mediaeval  Age ;  they  have,  on  this 
account,  inherited  a  steady  preference  for  that 
language.  The  general  use  of  the  Latin  on  the 
part  of  the  learned  professions  has,  in  the 
easiest  manner,  facilitated  the  learned  inter- 
course of  all.  This  has  now,  however,  alto- 
gether changed.  The  national  languages  have 
obtained  their  natural  rights,  and  should  always 
maintain  them,  even  if  a  universal  language 
for  scholars  shall  have  been  adopted.  We  must 
concede  that  it  is  impossible  to  reinstate  the  old 
relation  the  Latin  has  held — when  all  the  lec- 
tures on  any  subject  whatever  at  the  universities 
were  delivered  in  Latin.  Neither  would  such 
be  desirable. 

Virchow  says,  in  his  inaugural  address  as  rec- 
tor of  the  Berlin  University :  "  It  was  from  the 
beginning  a  weak  side  of  the  humanistic  educa- 
tional institutions  to  favor  the  Latin  language. 
It  must  be  conceded  that  they  could  not  do 
otherwise.  They  found  the  Latin  the  universal 
language  of  church  and  law.  They  were  all 
Latin  schools.  They  only  continued  what  had 
become  a  general  practice  in  consequence  of  the 
habit  transmitted  for  a  thousand  years.  But  for 
this  reason  they  had  accepted  an  element  of 
weakness.      For  the  classical  writers  of   Rome 


GREEK   AS    INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      237 

were  in  their  works  way  behind  the  Greek 
authors.  Indeed,  the  best  among  them  are  in- 
debted to  their  Greek  antecedents  for  their 
education.  The  school  of  Athens  formed  the 
background  of  all  learned  activity.  Our  own 
Western  civilization  has  adopted  from  the  Greek 
literature  the  really  moving  thoughts  and  the 
facile  forms.  Homer,  Aristotle,  and  Plato  have 
continued  to  be,  up  to  our  time,  the  teachers  of 
mankind. 

"Since  the  Greek  authors  have  again  been 
read  in  the  original,  the  active  interest  in  the 
Latin  language  has  been  reduced.  Still,  the 
Latin  remained  the  principal  object  of  informa- 
tion. But  it  steadily  accomplished  less.  As  the 
use  of  the  language  as  such  became  gradually 
less,  rhetoric  was  omitted,  restricting  the  study 
more  and  more  to  the  grammar.  Indeed,  in- 
struction in  grammar  gradually  so  overpowered 
everything  that  even  the  Latin  essay  became  a 
pium  desiderium." 

The  Latin,  as  an  international  and  scientific 
language,  loses  every  day  more  of  its  impor- 
tance. Indeed,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  it  is 
kept  alive  only  in  purely  philological  and  theo- 
logical literature.  Latin  is  a  dead  and  restricted 
language,  insufficient  for  the  present  time. 


238      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

The  number  of  Latin  scientific  terms,  with  the 
exception  of  the  vocabulary  for  law  matters,  is 
inferior  to  the  number  of  words  from  the  Greek. 
Moreover,  we  possess  only  the  written  Latin 
language;  the  language  of  daily  commerce  has 
not  been  transmitted.  The  Latin  of  the  Church, 
of  the  learned,  is  an  artificial,  a  forced  language. 
It  can  easily  be  understood  why,  under  these 
circumstances,  the  instruction  in  Latin  became 
more  and  more  purely  grammatical ;  but  why  the 
Greek,  a  living  language,  a  language  just  as 
living  as  our  own,  has  been  treated  alike  in  our 
schools,  is  a  question  which  should  be  addressed 
to  all  the  learned  world,  in  order  to  expose  a 
wrong  that  has  been  committed  and  kept  up  for 
centuries. 

"Grammatical  schooling,"  says  Virchow,  "is 
not  that  auxiliary  means  of  progressive  develop- 
ment which  is  needed  by  our  youth.  It  does 
not  cause  that  desire  for  learning  which  is  a  pre- 
supposition of  independent  further  development ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  manifest  that  many 
scholars,  as  well  as  their  parents,  regard  it  with 
hatred." 

Professor  John  Williams  White,  of  Harvard 
College,  says :  "  High  grammar,  philological  re- 
search concerning  forms  and  laws  of  construe- 


GREEK   AS    INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.       239 

tion,  should  be  undertaken  by  no  one  until  he  is 
well  on  his  course,  and,  it  may  well  be,  by  the 
majority  of  men  never  at  all.  The  study  of  the 
classics  is  an  effective  means  of  mental  dis- 
cipline, but  theoretical  grammar  does  not  fur- 
nish the  best  field  for  its  exercise." 

Study,  like  almost  everything  else  in  our 
times,  and  especially  in  this  country,  must  be 
done  at  high  pressure;  and  no  time  is  to  be 
lost,  since  many  things  have  to  be  learned.  It 
is  true  the  Boston  Latin  School  does  not  do 
what  it  did  forty  years  ago — teach  boys  for  a 
whole  year  the  forms,  rules,  and  exceptions  of 
Latin  grammar  without  even  a  single  sentence 
of  illustration;  the  "Method  of  Classical  Study," 
by  Dr.  Taylor,  of  Andover,  in  which  he  asks 
seventy-six  questions  upon  the  first  three  lines 
of  Xenophon's  "Anabasis,"  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  upon  the  first  three  verses  of 
"^neid,"  I  suppose  is  not  in  use  any  more;  yet 
radical  change  of  instruction  in  the  classical  lan- 
guages, especially  in  Greek,  is  needed,  whether 
we  consider  either  of  these  languages  as  an  in- 
ternational medium  or  simply  as  a  means  of 
mental  discipline. 

The  higher  aim  in  language  study  is  to  know 
the    language    colloquially    and    idiomatically. 


240      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

This  cannot  be  attained  by  means  of  the  gram- 
mar. There  is  great  activity  on  the  part  of 
modern  linguists  toward  devising  a  rational  way 
of  imparting  a  colloquial  knowledge  of  a  lan- 
guage. A  number  of  natural  methods  have 
sprung  up,  and  have  produced  new  activity  in 
every  country.  Not  alone  the  modern  lan- 
guages have  been  taught  by  such  systems,  but 
attempts  have  been  made  to  teach  Latin  after 
such  methods.  The  best,  indeed  the  only  suc- 
cessful one,  is  the  Tusculum  system  of  Arcade 
Mogyorossy,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  who  was  born 
in  Hungaria,  where  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revo 
lution  of  1848-49  Latin  served  as  universal  lan- 
guage among  the  cultured  people  of  the  many 
nationalities  in  the  country.  Mogyorossy,  al- 
though born  after  1849,  was  taught  his  school 
lessons  in  geography,  history,  mathematics, 
physics,  astronomy,  all  in  Latin.  He  came  to 
this  country,  where  five  years  ago  he  com- 
menced to  publish  a  number  of  books  to  intro- 
duce his  method ;  a  little  later  on  he  published 
the  most  admirable  Latin  monthly,  PrcEco  Lati- 
nus,  which  has  now  reached  its  fourth  year.  The 
Tusculum  system  surprises  us  by  its  simplicity, 
the  main  feature  being  that  the  language  is 
taught  within  itself  out  of  its  own  material. 


GREEK  AS  INTERNATIONAL  LANGUAGE.   24 1 

In  order  to  command  a  language,  it  is  above 
all  necessary  to  know  how  the  people  speak. 
The  every-day  language  must  be  familiar  to  us. 
Whoever  knows  the  conversational  language  of 
a  nation  has  the  key  to  the  understanding  of  its 
writings  like  the  people  themselves. 

The  Attic  boy  needed  for  reading  the  Greek 
poets,  the  Attic  farmer  for  the  theatre  or  a 
public  meeting,  only  the  knowledge  of  the  Attic 
conversational  language  in  its  most  simple 
form.  It  enabled  them  to  understand  the  trag- 
edies of  Sophocles  and  the  speeches  of  Pericles. 

It  has  often  been  claimed  that  there  are  re- 
markably few  words  and  sentences  which  suffice 
for  the  common  man  in  speaking  his  native  lan- 
guage, and  which  enable  him  to  understand 
even  that  which  to  him  is  a  new  formation. 
The  every-day  language  must  first  be  known 
before  acquiring  the  art  language. 

Macaulay  and  others  recommend,  while  learn- 
ing a  language,  to  lay  aside  the  grammar,  as  the 
laws  of  speech  will  be  easily  comprehended 
while  reading  good  authors.  It  seems  to  me 
that  whosoever  begins  the  study  of  a  language 
with  the  learning  of  its  rules,  will  never  learn 
the  language,  unless  he  abandons  the  study  of 

the  grammar  and  commences  anew. 
16 


242      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

So  long  as  Greek  is  taught  in  the  schools  ac- 
cording to  the  present  methods,  it  will  be  consid- 
ered as  a  language  too  difficult  to  be  learned,  and 
could  not  be  selected  for  a  universal  language. 

Greek  is  a  living  language  and  must  be  treated 
as  such.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  proper  expres- 
sion without  using  strong  terms,  to  characterize 
the  erroneous  common  opinion  that  Greek  is  a 
dead  language ! 

We  frequently  meet  with  people  who,  having 
attained  a  certain  degree  of  education,  make  this 
mistake,  while  as  a  matter  of  fact  Greek  news- 
papers are  continually  published  and  new  books 
treating  of  various  subjects  also  appear  regu- 
larly in  the  Greek  language.  An  uneducated 
man  may  be  excused  for  such  mistakes,  as  cer- 
tainly professional  philologists  have  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  propagation  of  such  views. 

Many  professors  of  the  classical  languages 
simply  pay  no  attention  to  the  living  Greek, 
without  having  even  the  least  semblance  of  any 
grounds  for  such  disregard;  and  yet  they  pro- 
nounce the  language  of  the  Muses  according  to 
the  usage  of  their  respective  countries,  in  the 
English,  Dutch,  or  German  manner.  The  pro- 
nunciation, which  ought  to  be  alone  the  rule,  is 
unknown  to  them,  nor  do  they  wish  to  know  it. 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      243 

Nothing  is  easier  than  the  proof  that  the 
Greek  is  not  a  dead  language.  The  daily  Greek 
newspapers  published  at  the  present  time  prove 
that  the  Greek  language  of  to-day  is  still  the 
same  Greek  of  the  classical  age,  showing  merely 
such  differences  as  each  living  language  under- 
goes in  the  course  of  time.  Look,  for  instance, 
into  the  Katpoi^  published  in  Athens.  Whoever 
has  been  instructed  merely  at  school,  on  behold- 
ing for  the  first  time  this  paper,  will  be  agree- 
ably surprised  to  find  that  he  is  able  to  under- 
stand its  contents  without  any  difficulty.  A 
better  and  more  convincing  proof  can  hardly  be 
imagined. 

The  fact  that  the  Greek  language  alone  has 
preserved  itself  almost  unchanged  through  thou- 
sands of  years  in  its  original  beauty  is,  in  my 
opinion,  as  a  modern  Greek  writer  expresses 
himself : 

"  616x1  TO  oipalov  elvat  uaav  Xaf^-ipig  tov  rjTiiov  ettI  rijq  yrjQ^ 
6i6ri  TO  opaiov  ^y  alcoviug." 

The  Greek  language  has  been  transmitted  to- 
gether with  its  pronunciation.  The  majority  of 
the  Greek  people,  kept  in  bondage  since  the 
mediaeval  age  until  1822,  were  altogether  unable 
either  to  read  or  write. 

Much  has  been  said  garrulously  about  the  de- 


244      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

generated  descendants  of  Pericles,  Socrates,  and 
Phidias.  Still,  these  degenerated  descendants 
have  the  undeniable  fortune  to  speak  a  language 
which  Pericles,  Socrates,  and  Phidias  would 
have  understood.  An  unbroken  chain  continues 
from  generation  to  generation,  and  back  again, 
from  the  Greeks  of  the  nineteenth  century  to 
those  of  Pericles,  Socrates,  and  Phidias. 

It  is  a  customary  assertion  that  the  modern 
Greek  is  a  barbarous  mixture  of  a  good  deal  of 
Slavonic,  Albanese,  Turkish,  and  Italian,  and  of 
a  little  corrupt  Greek.  As  we  have  seen,  this  is 
just  as  untrue  as  the  assertion  that  the  Greek  is 
a  defunct  language.  Naturally,  such  incorrect 
views  are  held  among  the  ignorant.  However, 
as  I  know  from  experience,  such  ignorance  is 
found  also  among  the  otherwise  educated  classes 
who  have  studied  the  Greek  language  while  at 
college.  It  is  remarkable  how  the  very  Greek 
language,  from  which  every  other  European  lan- 
guage has  drawn  so  freely,  has  been  calumni- 
ated in  such  a  manner. 

Aside  from  the  Greek  as  published  in  news- 
papers and  books,  which  some  are  pleased  to 
designate  as  an  artificial  old  Greek  in  a  new 
Greek  garb,  the  living  and  really  spoken  lan- 
guage of  both  the  higher  and  the  lower  classes, 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.       245 

of  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  as  well  as  of  the 
peasantry,  is  by  no  means  a  barbarian  mixture, 
but  rather  a  genuine  Greek.  Everybody  ac- 
quainted with  this  language  is  aware  of  this  fact. 
I  cite  as  witness  thereof:  Ernst  Curtius,  a  first- 
class  expert  in  both  forms  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, who  says  in  his  work,  "The  New  Greek 
and  its  Meaning  with  Regard  to  the  Old  Greek," 
that,  excepting  a  few  tracts  at  the  border  of  the 
territory  where  Greek  is  spoken  (as,  for  instance, 
the  Ionian  Isles),  "  even  the  lowest  Greek  uses  a 
pure  Greek  language." 

The  question  of  the  physical  descent  of  the 
new  Greeks,  which  cannot  be  separated  from 
that  of  the  language,  is  best  settled  by  answer- 
ing that  of  the  descent  of  the  language.  Ac- 
cording to  late  researches,  a  Slavonic  descent  of 
the  Greeks  can  no  longer  be  maintained.  Proof 
can  be  furnished  that  not  only  are  the  modern 
Greeks  not  Slavonic,  but  also  that  no  trace  of  a 
Slavonic  influence  can  be  found,  with  one  excep- 
tion to  be  mentioned  presently. 

A  colleague,  who  had  studied  Greek  and  was 
also  a  college  graduate,  claimed,  while  convers- 
ing with  me,  that  the  modern  Greek  and  Sla- 
vonic languages  were  very  much  intermingled. 
A  Greek  gentleman,  a  scholar,  on  hearing  this 


246      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

reproach,  replied:  "I  shall  be  very  much 
obliged  to  this  gentleman  if  he  will  mention 
even  one  single  Slavonic  word  found  in  the 
modern  Greek  language."  The  Slavonic  is  en- 
tirely restricted  to  the  designations  of  habita- 
tions, hills,  landscapes,  waters,  and  even  then  it 
appears  only  in  occasional  places  and  by  no 
means  in  all  Greece. 

In  spite  of  a  long-continued  intercourse,  the 
Albanese  have,  if  possible,  left  still  less  traces 
in  the  Greek  language. 

It  is  somewhat  different  concerning  the  Turk- 
ish language.  The  Turkish  dominion  was  for 
centuries  very  effective  and  oppressive ;  it  can- 
not, therefore,  seem  strange  if  words  of  the  offi- 
cial language  have  permeated  the  language  of 
the  conquered  people.  We  find  some  Turkish 
words  for  Turkish  things,  as  for  instance,  ytovpTi 
for  a  certain  preparation  of  milk,  Tzddcpi  for  a 
Turkish  preparation  of  rice,  just  as  beefsteak, 
the  English  dish,  is  called  by  this  name  in  all 
countries.  In  the  written  language,  however, 
nearly  everything  of  foreign  origin  has  been 
carefully  avoided. 

It  is  true  the  works  of  the  modern  Greek 
writer  are  not  of  so  much  beauty  as  the  works  of 
the  classical  period,  but  the  language  is  not  to 


GREEK   AS    INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      247 

be  blamed  for  this.  The  marble  of  Pentelicon 
is  not  at  fault  when,  in  later  periods,  no  Venus 
of  Melos,  no  Hermes  of  Praxiteles  could  be 
formed  of  it. 

The  Greek  of  the  schools  is  looked  upon  as  a 
dead  language ;  the  method  of  teaching  as  well 
as  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  taught  are  of  no 
account  for  practical  life.  Those  leaving  school, 
except  such  as  choose  philology  as  a  profession, 
forget  what  they  have  learned  more  rapidly  than 
they  have  learned  it,  and  thus  it  seems  to  be  of 
no  consequence  to  the  teachers  whether  the 
Greek  is  pronounced  in  one  way  or  another. 
A  custom  handed  down  for  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  years  is  followed,  and  thus  the 
necessity  is  removed  of  imparting  to  the  lan- 
guage the  sound  of  a  living,  undoubted  Greek 
idiom. 

The  French,  English,  and  Russian  peda- 
gogues think  in  the  same  manner  as  the  German 
philologists,  therefore  the  Greek  language  is 
learned  in  the  respective  countries  according  to 
the  modern  high  German,  French,  English,  and 
Russian  pronunciation,  and  forgotten  again. 
The  fate  of  the  Greek  language  in  the  schools 
seems  therefore  to  be  sealed,  unless  a  better 
mode  of  instruction  is  introduced.     A  language 


248      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

which  is  spoken  by  seven  million  people  is  for- 
cibly reduced  to  a  defunct  language. 

A  school  which  is  proud  of  its  scientific  teach- 
ers should  teach  nothing  that  has  been  proved, 
and  also  been  admitted,  to  be  unscientific  and 
false.  Neither  should  this  be  done  even  with  a 
really  defunct  language.  Nor  does  it  ever  hap- 
pen in  regard  to  any  dead  or  living  language, 
except  in  the  case  of  the  Greek.  Instruction  in 
the  living  languages  is  not  given  with  an  in- 
vented pronunciation,  and  even  in  teaching  dead 
Latin  and  Hebrew  a  pronunciation  is  taught  in 
the  schools  which  is  preeminently  based  upon 
the  living  tradition.  Latin  is  taught  as  it  is 
transmitted  through  its  pronunciation  in  Italy, 
and  through  the  pronunciation  of  the  Italian  lan- 
guage; Hebrew  as  it  is  really  spoken  by  the 
Portuguese  Jews. 

Only  with  the  Greek  an  exception  is  made  by 
the  school,  and  just  in  this  case  the  existence  of 
a  living  Greek  language  ought  to  be  a  reminder 
to  place  instruction  in  close  relation  to  life,  so 
that  the  scholar  might  later  employ  it  for  prac- 
tical purposes.  The  phrase  ought  to  be  borne 
in  mind :  Non  scholcB,  sed  vitce  discimus. 

It  is  certainly  very  discouraging  to  the  scholar 
who,  having  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  the 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL    LANGUAGE.       249 

language,  finds  that,  thanks  to  the  college  pro- 
nunciation, he  must  pass  among  the  Greeks  in 
their  beautiful  country  like  a  deaf  and  dumb 
person,  neither  understanding  nor  understood. 

The  time  has  passed  long  since  when  a  crea- 
tive activity  in  Attic  philology  and  archaeology 
was,  almost  exclusively,  evinced  in  the  dust  of 
domestic  libraries  with  fac-simile  and  picture 
book.  The  number  of  archaeologists,  especially 
since  Schliemann,  who  try  to  enlarge  the  knowl- 
edge of  old  Greece  in  the  new  Greece,  is  steadily 
increasing.  Tuere  are  inducements  enough, 
even  without  the  idea  of  making  Greek  an  inter- 
national language,  to  employ  the  pronunciation 
of  the  now  living  Greeks.  No  probability  exists 
that  the  ancient  Greeks  spoke  like  the  college 
professors ;  certain  it  is,  however,  that  their  pro- 
nunciation was  similar  to  that  of  the  Greeks  of 
to-day. 

The  study  of  the  classics,  especially  the  Greek, 
has  been  greatly  favored  in  this  country  during 
the  past  decade  by  the  establishment  of  an 
American  school  at  Athens.  This  school  was 
founded  in  October,  1892,  by  the  American 
Archaeological  Institute,  and  is  supported  by 
yearly  contributions  from  eighteen  universities 
in  the  United  States.     One  result  of  the  estab- 


250      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

lishment  of  this  school  has  been  the  gradual 
diffusion  among  cultivated  people  of  a  more  cor- 
rect notion  of  the  Greek  language,  and  of  the 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  it  is  not  a  dead,  but 
a  living  language. 

As  the  humanists,  toward  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  brought  about  a  revival  of  Greek 
learning  in  the  schools,  so  may  it  be  that  a 
second  Renaissance  may  receive  its  quickening 
impulse  in  America,  and  that  we  may  be  at  the 
beginning  of  a  brilliant  period  of  study  of  the 
Greek  language,  the  results  of  which  can  but  be 
most  favorable  to  the  advancement  of  true  cul- 
ture among  us. 

When  we  consider  the  absurdity  of  the  school 
pronunciation  of  the  Greek,  we  must  regret  that 
a  clumsy  joke,  perpetrated  upon  Erasmus,  of 
Rotterdam — a  joke  which  certainly  does  not  be- 
come science  on  account  of  its  venerable  age — is 
still  taken  seriously  by  many. 

I  said  elsewhere :  "  In  order  to  command  a 
language,  it  is  above  all  necessary  to  know  how 
the  people  speak.  The  every-day  language 
must  be  familiar  to  us." 

"  Whoever  knows  the  conversational  language 
of  a  nation  has  the  key  to  the  understanding  of 
its  writings  like  the  people  themselves.** 


GREEK  AS   INTERNATIONAL  LANGUAGE.      25  I 

"  The  every-day  language  must  first  be  known 
before  acquiring  the  art  language." 

Should  we  not  feel  sorry  for  the  student  who 
begins  to  learn  English  by  studying  the  poetical 
works  of  Chaucer?  In  what  a  roundabout  way 
would  he  finally  be  enabled  to  understand  the 
peculiarity  of  the  language  of  Longfellow ;  how 
long  would  it  be  before  he  would  be  able  to  de- 
rive any  sort  of  enjoyment  from  this  poet's  writ- 
ings, if  he  were  to  learn  the  English  language 
by  reading  Longfellow's  works  exclusively,  and 
in  learning  it  were  obliged  to  parse  every  word? 

The  color  of  a  language  and  the  kind  of  style 
of  a  literary  work,  can  be  fully  perceived  only 
by  one  who  is  able  to  judge  how  far  this  lan- 
guage differs  from  commonplace  daily  conver- 
sation. We  do  not  subject  good  wine  to  a 
chemical  analysis  by  means  of  acids  and  salts  in 
order  to  prove  its  value,  neither  do  we  gram- 
matically analyze  a  poem  to  enjoy  its  charm. 

In  learning  a  language  we  notice  one  thing: 
in  order  to  advance  rapidly  we  have  to  read,  in 
the  beginning,  only  such  books  as  are  written  in 
an  easily  comprehensible  style,  the  contents  also 
to  be  of  an  entertaining  character.  If  we  choose 
the  more  difficult,  serious,  or  tedious  books,  we 
shall  not  advance,  but  rather  retrograde.     If  we 


252      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

begin  with  children's  stories  or  literature  for  the 
common  every-day  people,  we  shall  be  surprised 
to  find  how  soon  we  can  dispense  with  the  use  of 
a  dictionary.  We  soon  guess  and  learn  new 
words  by  reading  the  context.  We  thus  learn 
to  think  in  the  language,  and  the  more  we  pro- 
gress the  more  we  enjoy  the  better,  higher,  more 
serious,  classical  literature. 

Professor  John  Williams  White,  of  Harvard 
College,  in  a  series  of  articles  published  in  the 
New  England  Journal  of  Education^  in  1878,  en- 
titled "Latin  and  Greek  at  Sight,"  recommends 
the  instruction  in  the  classical  languages  after 
the  manner  of  teaching  German  and  French,  i.e., 
to  accustom  the  pupils  to  read  at  sight,  without 
any  preceding  preparation.  He  mentions  that 
the  pupils  learn  much  more  quickly  and  better 
to  read  the  German  than  the  Latin  languages, 
although  twice  as  much  time  is  spent  in  the 
study  of  the  latter.  Concerning  Greek,  he  says : 
"  It  is  to  be  reckoned  that  it  is  more  difficult  to 
learn  to  read  Greek  than,  for  instance,  German ; 
but  then  there  is  not  so  much  difference  between 
the  two  languages  as  to  justify  the  fact  that 
pupils,  after  studying  Greek  for  years,  are  not 
yet  able  to  read  without  the  aid  of  a  dictionary, 
or   through   some    other  means   of    assistance, 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      253 

while  they  learn  in  a  much  shorter  time  to  read 
German  fluently." 

In  order  to  obviate  this  evil,  he  recommends, 
among  other  means,  that  the  pupils  should  study 
no  higher  Greek  or  Latin  grammar  until  they 
are  enabled  to  read  these  languages  with  a  cer- 
tain ease,  and  also  have  read  a  good  deal.  His 
claims  are  rather  modest.  He  says:  "The 
study  of  grammar  should  be  rendered  more 
practical,  especially  during  the  first  years.  The 
pupil,  after  having  studied  both  the  Greek  and 
Latin  languages  for  three  or  four  years,  should 
be  able  to  read  the  Greek  writings  of  Xenophon, 
Lysias,  and  Herodotus,  and  the  Latin  of  Caesar 
and  Cicero,  without  either  previous  preparation 
or  the  use  of  a  dictionary." 

Professor  White,  in  his  suggestions  regarding 
reformation  of  the  instruction  in  Greek,  has  not 
gone  far  enough,  because  he,  like  other  college 
professors,  ignores  modern  Greek.  The  literary 
Greek  of  to-day  is  identical  with  the  Attic 
dialect  in  orthography,  almost  also  in  form ;  the 
syntax  is  here  and  there  circumscribed  and  sim- 
plified. There  is  more  difference  between  the 
Greek  of  Herodotus  and  the  Greek  of  Xenophon 
than  there  is  between  the  Greek  of  the  latter  and 
the  Greek  of  to-day.     There  is  more  difference 


2  54     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

between  the  English  of  Chaucer  and  the  English 
of  to-day  than  there  is  between  old  and  new 
Greek.  The  living,  the  Greek  as  it  is  spoken 
and  written  in  Greece  to-day,  is  the  one  which 
should  be  taught  in  our  schools.  The  Greek  as 
it  is  taught  in  general  in  our  schools  is  simply 
a  skeleton  without  life.  Our  college  professors 
should  not  look  upon  Greek  as  a  dead  language, 
and  above  all  they  should  give  up  pronouncing 
it  in  their  barbarous,  arbitrary  manner. 

It  appears  to  me  that  Greek,  taught  like  other 
living  languages,  by  one  or  the  other  modern 
methods — Meisterschaft's,  or  any  similar  system 
— is  not  more  difficult  to  learn  than  French  or 
Spanish,  certainly  much  easier  than  German. 

If  we  commence  with  a  regular  ABC  book, 
a  First  Reader,  Fairy  Tales,  then  read  works  of 
the  best  modern  writers  like  Bikelas,  we  shall 
soon  get  the  aim  to  acquire  understanding,  and 
highest  pleasure  in  reading  the  old  Greek  classi- 
cal authors,  much  better,  and  without  having  to 
undergo  the  well-known  tortures  of  the  present 
school  instruction.  If  the  acquiring  of  the 
Greek  language  is  thus  made  easier,  and  the 
classical  Greek  literature  brought  more  and  more 
within  our  reach,  Kant's  saying  will  become  more 
obvious.    "  Even  during  the  dark  ages  great  men 


GREEK  AS   INTERNATIONAL  LANGUAGE.      255 

have  existed.  During  those  periods,  however, 
only  those  could  attain  greatness  who,  by  na- 
ture, had  been  stamped  for  it.  Now,  since  in- 
struction has  been  perfected,  men  are  made 
great  by  training." 

If  the  Greek  language  becomes  the  property 
of  all  scholars  of  all  civilized  nations  in  such 
manner  that  it  may  serve  as  the  medium  of  in- 
tercourse, there  is  no  telling  how  great  the  prac- 
tical advantage  will  be  along  with  the  ideal  gain. 
The  introduction  of  the  living  Greek  language 
into  our  schools  would  be  of  not  less  significance 
than  the  work  of  the  humanists  at  the  end  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

As  the  humanists  in  their  times  fought  against 
the  obstinate  and  clumsy  form  in  which  the 
scholastic  science  was  taught,  as  they  fought 
against  the  prevailing  professional  quarrelling, 
and  the  cunning  and  subtilizing  in  words,  just 
as  much  is  it  timely  now  to  agitate  for  a  reform 
in  teaching  Greek  in  our  schools.  These  men 
were  inspired  for  the  grand  inheritance  left 
by  the  ancient  classical  nations ;  they  recognized 
in  this  inheritance  one  of  the  most  excellent 
means  of  improvement  of  the  mind,  and  an  inex- 
haustible soil  of  noble  sentiment. 

The   single   individual   can    accomplish    very 


256      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

little  to  have  justice  done  to  a  language  which 
our  profession  uses  already  so  much  in  its  lexi- 
cology in  preference  to  any  other ;  to  have  this 
language  seriously  considered  when  the  question 
of  an  international  language  for  scholars  of  all 
nations  is  brought  up — a  language  which  gives 
terms  to  all  new  inventions  and  discoveries,  and 
which  cannot  be  replaced  by  any  other ;  which  is 
already,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  international 
language.  

Ttc  oI(5e,  iaug  ^/lipav  riva  7rpayfiaronoiTi6y  to 
upalov  61  rjfia^  bveipov  tovto. — A.  BiKeAag. 

The  question  of  adopting  the  living  Greek  of 
to-day  as  the  international  language  of  scholars 
has  become  the  subject  of  much  discussion. 
Many  American  and  European  journals,  even 
journals  printed  in  Turkey,  have  entered  into 
the  discussion.  Professors  of  philology  in  Ger- 
man universities  and  colleges  have  found  it 
worthy  of  reply,  and  have  published  their  views 
on  this  subject  in  scientific  philological  periodi- 
cals— a  subject  which  was  warmly  discussed  in 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  on  April 
2 1  St,  1894,  when  I  read  before  it  a  paper  bearing 
on  this  matter. 

On  the  whole,  the  responses  have  been  favor- 
able to  our  cause.     The  great  number  and  the 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      257 

tone  of  the  commentaries  prove  that  thought  on 
the  subject  has  been  aroused,  and  will  continue. 
Bikelas,  the  Greek  Washington  Irving,  after 
having  read  my  article,  wrote  the  words  quoted 
above  in  regard  to  the  idea  of  Greek  as  the  uni- 
versal language  for  scholars:  "Who  knows, 
some  day  perhaps,  this  our  beautiful  dream  may 
become  reality." 

I  have  received  many  congratulatory  letters 
from  physicians,  from  other  scholars,  from  men 
of  prominence  and  of  high  official  positions, 
many  urging  me  to  continue  speaking  and  writ- 
ing on  the  Greek  question. 

A  German  philologist,  after  expressing  him- 
self very  courteously  in  praise  of  the  energy 
which,  he  says,  I  have  exhibited,  is  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  idea  of  having  Greek  as  the  inter- 
national language  of  scholars  will  not  become 
realized.  He  refers  to  my  narration  of  the 
failure  of  all  attempts  to  invent  a  world-lan- 
guage, and  also  to  my  illustration  of  the  at- 
tempted official  invention  of  the  Maximilian  style 
of  architecture.  He  says  an  international  lan- 
guage for  scholars  can  likewise  neither  be  nomi- 
nated nor  invented.  Resolutions  to  this  effect 
might  be  adopted,  but  nobody  will  learn  the  lan- 
guage, because  nobody  has  time  to  learn  an 
17 


258      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

extra  language  for  the  sole  purpose  of  con- 
gresses and  periodicals.  "Dr.  Rose,"  he  says 
further,  "  is  probably  not  sufficiently  aware  that 
the  question  of  pronunciation  does  not  stand  now 
as  it  stood  formerly :  Erasmian  or  Reuchlinian  ? 
but  rather :  When  was  the  pronunciation  of  the 
different  words  transformed  into  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  Greeks  of  to-day?  This  change  of 
pronunciation  of  the  different  sounds — as  they 
are  written — has  taken  place  at  different  periods. 
When? — that  is  found  by  the  study  of  inscrip- 
tions." 

I  do  not  know  if  researches  have  been  made 
as  to  how  German,  French,  and  English  have 
been  pronounced  in  different  centuries.  I  can- 
not determine  whether  the  result  of  such  re- 
searches would  compensate  for  the  immensity  of 
brain-work  employed,  but  it  appears  to  me  that 
much  time  and  brain-work  have  been  wasted 
through  the  fault  of  Erasmus.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  him,  nobody  might  have  suggested,  or 
might  now  suggest,  any  other  pronunciation  of 
classical  Greek  than  the  pronunciation  employed 
by  the  Greeks  of  to-day.  Whatever  the  scien- 
tific value  of  historical  studies  of  pronunciation 
may  be,  it  concerns  in  no  way  the  practical  study 
of    Greek.       Higher    philology    should    be    at- 


GREEK  AS   INTERNATIONAL  LANGUAGE.      259 

tempted  only  after  the  language  has  been 
learned  practically. 

It  is  quite  true  that  a  universal  language  for 
scholars  cannot  be  introduced  by  force  or  by 
persuasion,  and  that  nobody  has  time  to  learn  an 
extra  language  for  the  purpose  of  congresses 
and  periodicals. 

It  is  conceded,  even  "im  naturwissenschaft- 
lichen  Jahrhundert,"  as  the  Germans  call  it, 
that  a  regular  and  solid  scholar  should  know 
Greek  and  Latin ;  it  is  conceded  that  the  classics 
are  powerful  means  to  elevate,  to  ennoble  our 
mind,  our  character.  Since  Greek  is  on  the 
school  plan  already,  there  is  no  new  language  to 
be  learned;  only  another,  a  rational  method  of 
learning  has  to  be  adopted ;  it  has  to  be  learned 
practically  for  practical  purposes,  as  well  as  for 
ideal.  The  most  perfect,  the  ideal  language 
will  then  speak  for  itself,  and  will  inspire  schol- 
ars to  unite  in  agitation  for  its  general  adoption. 

Dr.  E.  Engel,  in  his  book  "  Griechische  Frtih- 
lingstage,"  gives  the  following  instruction: 
"  How  shall  we  learn  the  real  language  of  the 
new  Greeks?  Turn  over  the  leaves  of  one  of 
the  many  grammars  and  read  something  about 
pronunciation,  but  then  throw  it,  and  leave  it, 
aside,  and   take   instead   a  collection  of   Greek 


260      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

popular  songs  and  fairy  tales.  Finally  read 
comedies  which  really  have  been  played."  I 
myself  had  followed  a  similar  course  when  I  un- 
dertook to  learn  the  living  Greek,  and  I  gave 
some  of  my  correspondents  the  advice  to  do  like- 
wise. I  recommend  the  reading  of  children's 
stories,  above  all  of  Bikelas'  beautiful  Greek 
translation  of  "Andersen's  Fairy  Tales."  The 
most  essential,  however,  is  to  speak  with  Greeks 
and  hear  Greeks  speak  among  themselves. 

Dr.  Engel  says:  "Whoever  has  learned  old 
Greek  will  need  not  much  more  than  to  learn 
some  additional  few  hundred  new  words.  This 
is  rather  easy  work,  since  the  roots  of  these 
words  are  old  Greek."  He  says  further  that  a 
foreigner  of  classical  education  thus  prepared 
will  understand  the  Greeks  in  Greece,  and  the 
Greeks  will  understand  him,  provided  he  has 
the  right  pronunciation. 

To  this  one  might  say :  there  exists  in  reality 
no  new  Greek.  Many  words  which  deviate 
from  the  literary  language  of  the  classical  period 
are  as  old  as  the  words  of  the  same  meaning  in 
the  classics,  although  we  cannot  find  them  in 
our  school  dictionary. 

The  methods  of  learning  Greek  or  any  lan- 
guage which   Dr.    Engel,   myself,   and  perhaps 


GREEK   AS    INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      26 1 

many  more,  have  discovered  for  ourselves  in- 
stinctively, is  really  pointed  out  as  being  unmis- 
takably the  best  when  we  consider  certain  facts 
of  physiological  anatomy  and  pathology  of  the 
brain.  From  the  ways  in  which  the  use  of  the 
language  is  lost,  or  suffers  varying  degrees  and 
kinds  of  impairment,  we  can  learn  how  it  best 
may  be  acquired.  Monographs,  above  all  Kuss- 
maul's  philosophical  and  elaborate  work  on  the 
disturbance  of  speech,  numerous  articles  in  our 
medical  periodicals,  and  special  chapters  in  our 
text-books  on  nervous  diseases,  treat  on  the  de- 
fects of  speech  in  their  relation  to  neuropath- 
ology. The  first  to  apply  the  recent  discoveries 
in  this  direction  to  the  methods  of  learning  and 
teaching  languages  was  Dr.  Howel  T.  Persh- 
ing. He  has  expounded  his  views  in  an  article 
entitled  "Language  and  Brain  Disease,'"  which 
appeared  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  for 
October,  1892. 

I  may  be  permitted  to  give  an  abstract  of  this 
most  valuable  paper :  All  the  motions  and  sensa- 
tions of  the  various  parts  of  the  body  have  their 
centres  in  the  brain.  Four  centres  are  espe- 
cially concerned  in  the  use  of  language:  the 
auditory  centre,  by  which  words  are  heard ;  the 
motor-speech  centre,  which  excites  and  controls 


262      CHRISTIAN   GREECE  AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  vocal  organs  in  speaking ;  the  visual  centre, 
by  which  the  written  words  are  seen;  and  the 
writing  centre,  which  guides  the  motions  of  the 
hand  in  writing.  The  centres  are  capable  of 
individual  development  by  practice.  Certain 
pathological  conditions  instruct  us  in  the  relative 
importance  of  each  of  these  centres  in  the  differ- 
ent ways  of  using  language.  The  loss  occa- 
sioned by  the  destruction  of  any  language  centre 
is  an  indication  of  the  defect  that  must  result  from 
neglecting  to  cultivate  the  same  centre  by  prac- 
tice. When  the  auditory  centre  is  aroused  by 
impulses  coming  from  the  ears,  we  have  the  sen- 
sation of  sound;  when  it  is  aroused  by  nerve 
currents,  not  from  the  ears  but  from  other  parts 
of  the  brain,  we  have  only  the  memory  of  sound. 
For  a  word  to  be  understood,  the  auditory  centre 
alone  is  not  sufficient.  The  sound  must  awaken 
the  memories  of  other  sensations.  The  nerve 
currents  passing  from  one  centre  to  another  are 
called  association  impulses.  Prompt  and  strong 
associations  must  be  cultivated  as  a  means  of 
securing  clear  and  vivid  ideas.  The  auditory 
centre  is  the  first  language  centre  to  be  devel- 
oped. A  child  first  hears,  then  understands  the 
sound  of  a  few  words,  then  it  imitates  the 
sounds  it  understands,  and  soon  can  use  them. 


GREEK   AS   INTERNATIONAL    LANGUAGE.      263 

Here  we  have  the  cooperation  of  the  motor- 
speech  centre.  The  two  centres  work  and  de- 
velop together,  but  the  auditory  centre  is  the 
more  independent  and  fundamental.  If  a  child 
becomes  deaf,  even  as  late  as  the  tenth  or 
eleventh  year,  it  also  becomes  mute,  unless 
special  educational  measures  are  employed;  in 
adults  destruction  of  the  auditory  centre  inter- 
feres sadly  with  talking,  while  destruction  of  the 
motor-speech  centre  does  not  seem  to  interfere 
at  all  with  the  understanding  of  speech.  When 
reading  is  first  undertaken,  the  auditory  and 
motor-speech  centres,  with  their  association 
fibres,  are  already  well  developed.  The  visual 
centre  now  begins  to  work  with  them.  At  first 
it  is  necessary  to  read  aloud  in  order  to  make 
the  association  impulses  exact  and  vigorous.  In 
writing,  the  visual  memory  may  be  an  aid  to 
correct  spelling.  Disease  cutting  off  the  com- 
munication of  the  visual  centres  with  other  cen- 
tres causes  mind-blindness.  The  patient  sees 
but  does  not  recognize  what  he  sees.  If  the 
affection  is  so  slight  that  he  can  still  recognize 
ordinary  objects,  but  not  written  or  printed 
words,  he  is  only  word-blind.  Although  read- 
ing in  such  a  case  i.j  impossible,  writing  is  not 
prevented;    the  patient,    however,   cannot   read 


264     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

what  he  has  just  written.  Speaking  and  the 
understanding  of  speech  are  not  interfered  with 
at  all.  Destruction  of  the  motor-speech  centre 
causes  a  much  more  extensive  interference  with 
the  use  of  language;  the  motions  of  the  vocal 
organs  being  no  longer  coordinated,  an  inarticu- 
late jargon,  or  the  senseless  repetition  of  word 
or  phrase,  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  power  of 
speech.  The  ability  to  write  is  also  lost.  Read- 
ing aloud  is,  of  course,  impossible ;  but  it  is  also 
a  matter  of  common  observation  in  such  cases 
that  the  ability  to  understand  print  is  lost  or 
greatly  impaired.  This  proves  that  in  most  per- 
sons direct  associations  between  visual  words 
and  ideas,  if  they  exist  at  all,  are  too  weak  to  be 
depended  upon. 

It  is  the  destruction  of  the  auditory  centre 
which  causes  the  most  extensive  loss  of  lan- 
guage. In  such  pathological  conditions  in 
which  words  are  heard  but  not  understood,  we 
speak  of  word-deafness.  There  are  other  patho- 
logical conditions  in  which,  although  the  vocal 
apparatus  is  in  perfect  order,  the  words  uttered 
are  mutilated,  deformed,  and  often  totally  differ- 
ent from  the  ones  intended.  We  learn  here 
that  in  talking  the  most  important  association 
impulses  do  not  go  directly  from  the  centres  for 


GREEK  AS  INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      265 

ideas  to  the  motor-speech,  centre,  but  to  the 
auditory  centre,  which,  remembering  the  sounds 
by  fresh  impulses,  arouses  the  motor  centre  to 
utter  them.  Writing  is  still  more  interfered 
with,  because  it  depends  upon  the  utterance- 
memory,  which  goes  astray  without  the  sound- 
memory. 

The  auditory  centre  is  essential  to  the  under- 
standing of  what  is  read.  In  reading,  the  visual 
centre  cannot,  as  a  rule,  call  up  the  ideas,  else 
destruction  of  the  motor-speech  centre  would 
not  interfere  with  reading  as  it  does.  Nor  is 
the  motor-speech  centre  directly  connected  with 
the  centre  for  ideas;  if  it  were,  destruction  of 
the  auditory  centre  would  not  interfere  with 
talking  as  it  does.  This  leaves  only  the  audi- 
tory centre,  which  is  abundantly  capable,  for  the 
sounds  of  the  words  readily  awaken  ideas  before 
the  other  language  centres  begin  to  work  and 
after  they  have  been  destroyed.  The  auditory 
centre  is  the  central  station  through  which  the 
other  language  centres  communicate  with  the 
centre  for  ideas.  The  sound  of  a  word  is  the 
word  itself.  Printed  words  are  only  convenient 
symbols  for  recalling  the  sounds.  Thinking 
requires  the  use  of  words,  not  visual  words,  but 
the  words  heard  and  uttered.     It  is  true  deaf- 


266     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

mutes  may  learn  to  read  and  even  to  speak,  and 
doubtless  to  use  visual  words  in  thinking,  but  it 
is  with  much  more  than  ordinary  difficulty.  It 
is  a  fact  of  great  significance  that  those  deaf- 
mutes  who  have  once  been  able  to  hear,  have  a 
great  advantage  over  those  deaf  from  birth,  not 
only  in  learning  to  read  and  speak,  but  in  gen- 
eral mental  capacity. 

Let  us  apply  the  above  facts  to  the  method  of 
learning  another  language  than  our  own. 
There  is  the  prevailing  school  and  college 
method  to  learn  the  language  by  force  of  mem- 
ory from  grammar  and  dictionary.  By  this 
method  it  is  conceded  that  the  ability  to  con- 
verse is  not  acquired,  but  it  has  been  generally 
assumed  that  by  it  the  pupil  could  at  least  learn 
to  read,  and  perhaps,  if  diligent,  to  write  to  ad- 
vantage. Yet,  even  for  this  purpose  alone,  the 
grammatical  method  must  be  a  failure  in  so  far 
as  it  neglects  to  train  the  pupil  to  a  quick  per- 
ception and  a  ready  utterance  of  the  sounds  of 
the  language,  for  we  have  seen  that  the  auditory 
and  motor-speech  centres  do  an  essential  part  of 
the  work  in  reading  and  writing.  Even  if  direct 
associations  from  the  visual  centre  may  be  culti- 
vated, as  in  the  case  of  deaf-mutes,  why,  instead 
of  an  easy  and  natural  method,  choose  an  un- 


GREEK  AS   INTERNATIONAL   LANGUAGE.      267 

natural  and  difficult  one  that  leads  to  poor 
results?  What  are  the  results  of  the  gram- 
matical instruction?  The  vast  majority  of  our 
college  graduates  neglect  to  read  the  ancient 
authors.  They  are  not  able  to  read  them,  but 
only  to  make  a  translation.  They  find  no  suffi- 
cient reward  for  this  slow  and  irksome  process. 

A  student,  having  reached  the  stage  of  prog- 
ress in  reading  and  writing  our  language,  visits 
our  country  whose  language  he  has  been  read- 
ing. What  he  hears  at  first  is  almost  wholly 
unintelligible,  though  the  same  words  in  print 
would  be  familiar.  A  little  later  it  is  not  un- 
common for  him  to  hear  a  sentence  without 
comprehending  it  at  all,  when  suddenly  it  will 
flash  upon  his  mind  as  though  he  had  seen  in 
print  what  he  is  hearing  and  as  if  he  had  pro- 
nounced it  himself,  and  then  he  understands 
readily.  The  same  thing  occurs  in  listening  to 
one's  native  tongue  when  the  auditory  centre 
has  been  slightly  damaged  by  disease.  When 
the  student  becomes  familiar  with  the  spoken 
language  through  every-day  experience,  he 
reads  faster,  finding  a  clearness  and  vigor  of 
meaning  before  unknown.  It  is  not  because  his 
vocabulary  is  larger,  but  because  it  is  more  effi- 
cient.     The  auditory  centre,    which   formerly, 


268      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

through  lack  of  practice,  failed  to  perforin  an 
essential  part  of  the  work,  is  now,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  visual  centre,  quick  to  recall  each 
sound,  and,  reinforced  by  the  utterance-memory, 
is  quick,  accurate,  and  vigorous  in  reviving  each 
idea.  The  work  of  exchange  is  now  done  by 
the  true  coin  of  the  realm. 

Our  civilization,  as  it  stands,  is  thoroughly 
impregnated  with  Greek  ideas.  Our  arts,  our 
letters,  our  morals,  our  institutions,  our  religious 
tendencies  even  are  based  upon  Greek  culture, 
inspired  by  Greek  perfection,  and  renovated 
with  Greek  refinement.  The  study  of  Greek  is 
not,  as  it  has  been  heretofore,  a  mere  linguistic 
discipline,  or  a  purely  scholarly  attainment,  but 
it  means  a  practical  study  of  the  sources  and 
origins  of  our  modern  civilization.  It  affords  to 
the  modern  mind  a  better  comprehension  of  the 
nature  and  character  of  our  own  elements  of  cul- 
ture. For  this  purpose  the  methods  and  sys- 
tems of  teaching  and  learning  Greek  must  be 
remodelled.  Grammatical  chicane  has  to  be 
reduced  to  a  more  human  minimum;  a  closer 
attention  to  the  spirit  must  be  advanced  to  a 
really  humanistic  maximum. 

Greek,  the  most  beautiful  of  languages,  will  live 
TO  QPAION  ZH  AIQNmZ  ! 


EPILOGUE. 


It  is  a  most  peculiar  habit  of  tourists  who  have 
been  a  few  days  in  Athens  to  write  childish  arti- 
cles for  their  home  journals  about  Greece  and 
the  Greeks.  I  recollect  such  a  paper  which  ap- 
peared in  one  of  our  first-class  illustrated  maga- 
zines. The  author,  a  reverend  gentleman,  had 
been  staying  in  Athens  two  days  in  all.  He  was 
addressed  as  Kurie,  and  people  said  kalimerra 
instead  of  good-day,  and  this  was  all  he  wrote 
about  the  Greek  language.  Unfortunately 
these  tourists,  not  understanding  the  language 
of  the  country,  are  ill-humored  and  write  with 
malevolence.  Their  readers  at  home  believe 
everything,  and  the  most  absurd  ideas  are 
spread. 

Perhaps  nothing  is  more  amusing  than  the  in- 
voluntary drollery  of  the  man  in  the  shabby  full- 
dress  suit  in  a  dime  museum.  "  Here,  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  you  see  two  busts:  this  is  Cae- 
sar's and  the  other  Pompey's.  They  are  very 
much  alike,   especially  Caesar."     This  is  about 


2/0      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

the  Style  in  which  the  essays  on  modern  Greek 
history  and  the  modern  Greek  language  are 
treated  in  the  popular  guide  books,  Murray  and 
Baedecker. 

Here  is  a  quotation  from  Murray's  "  Hand- 
book for  Travellers  in  Greece,"  edition  of  1896: 
"  The  claim  of  the  modern  Greeks  to  true  Hel- 
lenic descent  is  a  question  which  admits  of  con- 
siderable doubt  and  not  very  profitable  discus- 
sion. A  large  proportion  of  the  slaves  employed 
in  agriculture  during  the  most  flourishing  pe- 
riods of  the  state  were  of  foreign  origin,  as  we 
know  from  the  enormous  extent  of  the  slave 
trade.  We  know  also  that  under  the  domina- 
tion of  the  Romans  the  higher  classes  of  Greece 
either  died  out  or  lost  their  nationality  by 
adopting  the  names  and  assuming  the  manners 
of  Roman  citizens.  It  seems  therefore  probable 
that  pure  Hellenic  blood  began  to  be  greatly 
adulterated  about  the  time  when  the  ancient  dia- 
lects fell  in  disuse."  Murray  and  Baedecker  are 
very  much  alike. 

Baedecker  is  not  less  ignorant.  He  writes: 
"When  a  (Greek)  priest  is  made  a  bishop  he 
must  renounce  his  wife  and  children,  the  former 
frequently  entering  a  nunnery." 

This  ignoramus  Baedecker  is  quoted,  and  so 


EPILOGUE.  271 

are  other  ignoramuses  who  have  written  about 
the  Greeks,  and  it  is  quite  annoying  to  meet 
people  who  dispute  with  you  on  the  strength  of 
Baedecker-Murray  authority. 

But  there  are  more  dangerous  people  than 
Baedecker  and  Murray  and  the  every-day  tourist 
who  write  about  Greece.  It  is  that  class  to 
which  the  professor  belongs  whose  letter  is 
quoted  in  the  chapter  on  pronunciation.  He 
says :  "  I  have  a  less  high  view  of  the  modern 
Greeks  and  their  language  than  I  had  before  my 
recent  residence  in  Athens  of  eight  months. 
There  is  absolutely  no  modern  literature  worthy 
of  the  name."  This  professor  is  indeed  a  man 
of  profound  learning,  a  great  Greek  scholar, 
who  has  written  important  works  on  the  Greek 
language ;  but  he  is  like  some  other  old  gentle- 
men— in  the  medical    profession,   for    instance. 

Our  learned  professor  in  the  chapter  on  pro- 
nunciation says :  "  I  have  a  less  high  view  of  the 
modern  Greeks." 

Athens  possesses  monuments  of  art  superior  to 
any  others  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  whole 
world.  The  monuments  in  Athens  date  from 
the  most  brilliant  epoch  of  the  classical  period. 
Every  one  has  heard  of  the  incomparably  won- 
derful climate  and  magnificent  scenery  of  Athens 


272      CHRISTIAN    GREECE    AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

and  its  surroundings.  I  cannot  say  which  of 
the  three  impressed  me  the  most  favorably :  the 
wonders  of  art,  those  of  nature,  or  the  thousand 
good  qualities  I  have  seen  in  the  Greeks  them- 
selves. The  Greeks,  notwithstanding  their 
faults — no  nation  is  free  from  faults — notwith- 
standing their  mistake  in  going  to  war  alto- 
gether unprepared  against  a  foe  well  prepared, 
well  supported,  and  thrice  as  numerous,  the 
Greeks  not  only  have  been,  but  never  have 
ceased  to  be  to  this  very  moment,  the  noblest 
race. 

There  exists  no  alcoholism  in  Greece.  Even 
the  bitter  enemies  of  Greece,  the  tourists,  who 
are  fault-finding  all  the  time,  in  their  publica- 
tions generally  mention  that  they  never  saw 
drunken  people  in  Greece.  The  Greeks  live 
plainly,  moderately,  and  much  more  according 
to  the  laws  of  nature  than  the  people  in  Europe 
or  elsewhere  in  the  civilized  world.  Obesity 
even  is  extremely  rare.  There  are  fewer  crimes 
committed  in  Greece  than  in  any  other  state  of 
Europe.  The  only  crimes  which  are  compara- 
tively frequent  are  those  of  violence.  Southern 
blood,  easily  excitable,  although  by  no  means 
ill-tempered  —  a  little  dispute  about  a  trifle, 
words  are  exchanged,  the  dispute  becomes  hot, 


EPILOGUE.  273 

the  blood  boils ;  everybody,  at  least  of  the  coun- 
try people,  constantly  carries  arms ;  the  knife  or 
the  pistol  is  drawn — there  is  a  victim.  Thiev- 
ing is  extremely  rare.  Dishonesty  among  the 
Greek  post-office  employees,  for  instance,  is 
almost  unknown.  Money  is  exposed  in  glass 
cases  in  large  amounts  on  the  sidewalks  of  Ath- 
ens by  the  money-changers,  sometimes  almost 
with  as  much  confidence  as  the  newspapers  on  a 
newstand  in  New  York.  But  we  have  some 
illustration  right  in  New  York.  Here  these 
many  years  have  been  and  are  living  between 
two  and  three  thousand  Greeks — mostly  young — 
of  the  poorest  class.  I  am  sure  none  of  them 
has  ever  been  accused  of  stealing;  at  least  I 
never  heard  of  such  a  case.  It  is  true  the  po- 
lice, after  having  made  them  pay  a  license  for 
peddling  fruit,  continually  arrest  these  innocent 
people  under  all  sorts  of  pretexts,  because  they 
sell  fruit. 

From  official  statistics  we  learn  that  in  the 
year  1885,  when  Greece  had  a  little  over  two 
millions  of  inhabitants,  there  were  in  the  whole 
kingdom  1,503  blind,  1,084  deaf,  and  1,088  in- 
sane. This  small  number  of  insane,  especially, 
is  attributable  to  the  absence  of  alcoholism.     I 

studied  the  statistics  of  all  the  lunatic  asylums  in 
18 


274      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND   LIVING   GREEK. 

Greece,  and  found  that  there  were  years  in  which 
not  a  single  case  was  recorded  in  which  alcohol- 
ism figured  as  a  causal  factor. 

From  official  statistics  we  learn  the  following 
most  interesting  facts:  Among  5,000  deaths  at 
all  ages,  there  is  i  occurring  at  the  age  of  100 
years  or  more.  One  in  3,020  inhabitants  attains 
85  to  90  years  (in  France  i  in  4,354) ;  i  in  5,918, 
90  to  95  years  (in  France  i  in  20,000,  in  Saxony 
I  in  11,000);  I  in  11,988,  95  to  100  years  (in 
France  i  in  83,145);  i  in  16,678,  100  or  more 
years  (in  France  i  in  352,947). 

No  country  in  all  Europe  is  less  afflicted  with 
syphilis  than  Greece.  The  reasons  for  this  re- 
markable fact  are  the  following : 

1.  The  majority  of  the  population — namely, 
55.27  per  cent. — are  peasants. 

2.  Houses  of  prostitution,  except  in  some  but 
by  no  means  in  all  cities,  do  not  exist.  This  is 
the  more  honorable  to  the  Greeks  of  to-day 
when  one  recalls  the  ancient  cult  of  Aphrodite 
Pandemos.  Even  Athens  was  without  a  brothel 
until  the  French  introduced  their  morals,  or  lack 
of  morals,  during  the  blockade  of  the  Piraeus  at 
the  time  of  the  Crimean  war  (1854-57). 

3.  The  restricted  communication  between 
many  districts  with  large  cities  or  foreign  lands. 


EPILOGUE.  275 

4.  The  strict  morals  of  the  majority  of  the 
population.  All  witnesses  agree  that  chastity  is 
law  in  Greece.  The  bitter  enemies  of  this  un- 
fortunate country  cannot  deny  that  Greek  wo- 
men are  virtuous  women;  that  women  are  no- 
where more  highly  respected. 

Our  professor  was  eight  months  in  Athens. 
He  must  have  seen  all  the  noble  edifices,  the 
public  institutions  of  science,  art,  and  charity, 
founded  and  provided  for  by  Greek  patriots, 
which  adorn  Athens.  I  ask  him,  Is  there  any 
city  in  the  world  which  can  rival  Athens  in 
works  of  philanthropy  and  patriotism  ? 

Our  professor  of  the  chapter  on  pronunciation 
says  further:  "There  is  absolutely  no  modern 
literature  worthy  of  the  name." 

In  Athens  the  following  learned  societies  ex- 
ist: Parnassos  Literary  Society,  founded  1865; 
Byron  Society,  1868;  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  Hellenic  Literature,  1869;  Society  of  the 
Friends  of  Education,  1836;  Historical  and 
Ethnological  Society,  1883;  The  Physical  Sci- 
ence Society,  1887;  Athens  Scientific  Society; 
Teachers'  Society,  1873;  Orient,  or  Asia  Minor 
Society;  Academy,  1859. 

Has  our  professor  in  the  chapter  on  pronunci- 
ation not  seen  the  transactions  of  these  societies? 


2^6      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

They  can  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  Athens, 
and  they  alone  form  a  literature  worthy  the 
name;  but,  above  all,  the  professor  must  know 
the  publications  of  the  Archaeological  Society! 
May  I  ask,  are  not  the  books  of  Papadimitrako- 
poulos,  of  Hatzdakis,  of  Arguriados,  for  instance, 
worthy  of  our  highest  admiration  ?  Do  they  not 
belong  to  the  best  of  any  literature  of  our  time  ? 
The  following  letter,  which  I  wrote  in  Athens 
for  publication  in  the  New  York  Medical  Journaly 
however,  gives  an  idea  of  a  work  of  a  monumen- 
tal grandeur  belonging  to  the  noblest  of  the  lit- 
erature of  any  country  in  the  world.  Is  there 
any  literary  production  in  any  country  at  the 
present  time  which  is  superior  to  this? 

Athens,  August  idth,  iSgy. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Medical  Journal : 

Sir:  One  of  the  noblest  buildings  of  modern 
times  is  the  Academy  of  Athens.  As  is  well 
known,  it  was  built  at  an  expense  of  five  million 
drachmas,  the  gift  of  a  rich  Greek,  Simon  G. 
Sinas.  Its  features  in  general,  its  statues,  the 
gilding,  and  the  colors  give  an  idea  of  the 
splendor  of  classical  architecture.  All  this  has 
been  well  described  and  depicted. 

However  much  we  may  admire  this  structure 


EPILOGUE.  277 

and  its  beauties,  we  shall  find  in  one  of  its  vast 
halls  a  treasure  which  is  of  much  greater  value 
still,  of  a  value  for  science,  the  praise  of  which 
cannot  possibly  be  exaggerated. 

It  is  a  collection  of  skulls  and  skeletons  found 
in  Greece,  dating  from  all  periods — the  prehis- 
toric, that  is,  the  period  of  Mykense,  the  archaic, 
the  classical,  the  Roman,  and  the  Christian — and 
in  order  to  make  comparisons  with  these  ancient 
skulls  there  are  also  skulls  of  our  times  from 
different  sections  of  the  country. 

The  founder  and  conservator  of  this  collection, 
which  is  more  important  than  any  collection  in 
any  other  museum  in  the  world,  is  Dr.  Klon 
Stephanos,  the  author  of  a  scientific  work  en- 
titled "  La  Grece  au  point  de  vue  naturel,  eth- 
nologique,  anthropologique,  demographique  et 
medical"  (Paris,  1884). 

Each  and  every  one  of  these  skulls  and  other 
parts  of  the  skeleton  have  come  to  light  through 
the  official  excavations  of  the  Greek  government 
and  the  Archaeological  Society,  under  the  strict- 
est control  of  men  of  science  who  hold  them- 
selves responsible  to  the  government  and  to  the 
world  of  science.  Many  of  the  skulls  were  taken 
by  Dr.  Klon  Stephanos  himself  at  the  moment  of 
their  excavation.     The  skulls  and  skeletons  are 


278      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

identified  as  to  their  origin,  that  is,  the  locality 
where  they  were  found,  the  surroundings,  the 
grave,  the  arms,  the  pottery,  the  tools,  the  orna- 
ments— in  fact,  all  that  would  aid  in  giving  infor- 
mation, nay,  conclusive  evidence,  as  to  the  period 
to  which  the  skulls  or  the  skeletons  belonged. 

Here  are — an  important  part  of  the  collection 
— forty  skulls  of  the  prehistoric,  of  the  Mykense 
period — that  is,  about  the  fifteenth  century  be- 
fore Christ.  Let  us  see  what  this  number  of 
skulls  of  this  early  period  signifies.  Nine  years 
ago — that  is,  before  this  collection  was  begun — 
there  was  not  a  single  Greek  skull  of  this  period 
known  to  science.  Thus  the  question  in  regard 
to  the  two  principal  peoples  of  the  most  ancient 
Greece — the  Pelasges  and  the  Greeks  proper — 
the  question  of  their  being  brachycephalous  or 
dolichocephalous,  and  in  what  proportion  the  one 
or  the  other  form  predominated,  could  by  no 
means  be  decided.  Now,  by  means  of  this  rich 
material  which  presents  itself  here,  it  may  be 
said  positively  and  surely :  Some  of  the  prehis- 
toric Greeks  were  mesaticephalous ;  others  were 
dolichocephalous . 

Until  the  year  1884  there  were,  in  the  differ- 
ent collections  of  Europe,  about  ninety  ancient 
skulls  known,  of  which  twenty-nine  belonged  to 


EPILOGUE.  279 

Attica  (Nicolucci,  Virchow,  Broesike,  et  aL), 
thirty-eight  to  Asia  Minor  (twenty-two  to  Troy 
[Virchow]  and  sixteen  to  Ionia  [Zaborowsky]), 
four  to  the  Greek  islands  (Quatref ages) ,  and 
nineteen  to  southern  Italy  and  Sicily  (Nicolucci 
et  al.).  This  shows  that  there  were  only  thirty- 
three  skulls  from  Greece,  and  that  from  most 
parts  of  Greece  not  a  single  ancient  skull  was 
known  to  science.  There  was  the  impossibility 
of  obtaining  reliable  results  in  regard  to  the 
most  important  part  of  Hellenic  ethnography, 
the  impossibility  of  a  comparison  of  the  ancient 
type  with  all  the  later  types  of  Greece. 

There  are  in  the  collection  some  skeletons 
from  the  oldest  Iron  Age  of  Greece,  the  twelfth 
to  the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ,  found  at 
Eleusis.  The  objects  of  art  found  with  these 
skeletons  show  the  geometric  instead  of  the 
naturalistic  style,  the  latter  being  the  style  of 
Mykense.  Of  the  Iron  Age,  the  museum  pos- 
sesses a  number  of  skeletons  of  very  small  chil- 
dren which  had  been  preserved  in  vases  in  the 
necropolis  of  Ereusis.  At  this  period  the  mesat- 
icephalous  and  the  brachycephalous  types  begin 
to  make  their  appearance;  the  mesaticephalous 
type  is  the  predominating  one,  but  the  brachy- 
cephalous type  is  frequent. 


28o     CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

The  number  of  skulls  in  the  Museum  of  the 
University  of  Athens,  from  this  epoch  to  the 
classical  period,  is  very  large,  also  the  number 
of  those  from  the  Roman  and  from  the  Christian 
periods.  Among  the  ancient  skulls  there  are 
series  from  Eretria,  Corinth,  and  Boeotia  (Thes- 
pia,  Chorsia,  and  Tanagra).  Of  the  more  recent 
periods,  there  are  series  of  skulls  from  Thessaly, 
Naxos,  Amorgos,  Attica,  ^gina,  and  Megara. 

Dr.  Stephanos  takes  the  measurements  accord- 
ing to  the  adopted  international  method,  but  be- 
sides he  records  according  to  his  own  method, 
which  gives  the  best  results.  As  much  as  possi- 
ble descriptive  terms  are  avoided ;  the  measure- 
ments alone,  as  a  rule,  are  presented  to  demon- 
strate the  characteristics.  These  measurements, 
as  they  are  written  down  according  to  both 
methods  for  each  skull,  show  quite  an  extensive 
amount  of  work. 

While  speaking  of  measurements,  I  will  state 
here  that  Dr.  Stephanos  has  measured  more  than 
ten  thousand  heads  of  Greek  recruits.  The  re- 
sults of  these  measurements  are  demonstrated 
on  a  cephalometric  map.  On  this  map  the  ad- 
ministrative divisions  are  ignored,  since  they 
are  often  completely  neutralized  by  the  result  of 
anthropological  researches.     Thus,  for  instance, 


EPILOGUE.  281 

villages  are  found  far  apart,  which,  according  to 
anthropological  resemblances,  belong  together. 
By  lines  of  different  colors  the  frequency  of  the 
different  types  —  hyperbrachycephalic,  brachy- 
cephalic,  mesaticephalic,  and  dolichocephalic — 
is  demonstrated  in  a  clear  manner,  and  each 
conglomeration  of  specimens  of  the  one  or  the 
other  of  these  types  can  be  seen  at  a  glance. 

The  distribution  of  the  frequency  of  the  differ- 
ent colors  of  eyes  and  hair  is  marked  on  a  spe- 
cial map  by  lines  of  different  color.  This  latter 
map  is  the  first  of  its  kind  to  demonstrate  the 
frequency  of  these  characteristics  for  each  special 
type. 

Dr.  Stephanos  has  improved  craniometric 
methods  by  demonstrating  certain  characteristics 
by  means  of  measurements,  and  has  in  this  man- 
ner given  the  value  of  these  characteristics  in 
exact  mathematical  form;  he  has  also  comple- 
mented the  "seriation"  method  by  means  of 
which  we  are  enabled  to  determine  and  to  distin- 
guish, in  all  cases  in  which  different  types  come 
under  consideration,  that  part  which  belongs  to 
the  one  or  the  other  of  the  different  types,  and 
which  are  the  oscillations  and  the  maxima  of  fre- 
quency of  each  cephalometric  character  in  each 
series. 


282      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

But  not  only  has  he  improved  the  different 
craniometric  methods,  but  he  has  devoted  himself 
on  a  very  large  scale  to  the  study  so  as  to  give  all 
sorts  of  elements  which  can  be  brought  in  to  aid 
more  or  less  closely  the  study  of  anthropology. 
In  order  to  carry  out  this  plan,  thousands  of  ar- 
chives, documents,  deeds,  ecclesiastical,  fiscal, 
and  family  papers,  especially  papers  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  papers  never  before  published,  had  to  be 
studied,  and  personal  inquiries  had  to  be  made 
in  all  parts,  or  among  the  inhabitants  of  all 
parts,  of  Greece.  The  results  of  these  re- 
searches, comprising  every  locality  of  Greece, 
myriads  of  names  of  places,  of  mountains,  of 
rivers,  of  families,  of  words  in  all  the  different 
dialects  for  things  pertaining  to  agricultural, 
pastoral,  and  domestic  life,  of  words  from  natu- 
ral history,  names  for  animals  and  plants,  the 
geographical  domain  of  each  phonetic  phenome- 
non of  the  Greek  dialects,  are  collected  in  volu- 
minous manuscripts  which  I  have  had  the  pleas- 
ure, the  delight,  to  examine. 

There  is,  first,  one  volume  treating  of  the  re- 
lation of  all  facts  pertaining  to  invasions,  cap- 
tures, the  captives  taken,  the  transportation  of 
these  captives,  massacres,  and  depopulation. 

The  collection  of  family  names  presented  in 


EPILOGUE.  283 

another  manuscript  has  proved  to  be  of  great 
importance,  as  one  example  will  demonstrate: 
In  parts  where  there  was  a  great  immigration,  as 
in  the  island  of  Zante  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  we  find  hundreds  of  family  names  taken 
from  the  files  of  death  certificates.  We  find 
these  names  from  the  time  mentioned  down  to 
the  present  time,  and  can  determine  the  place 
whence  the  individuals  came  and  where  they 
settled  with  a  most  surprising  exactness  and 
certainty. 

There  is  a  map  adorning  the  wall  of  the  An- 
thropological Museum  the  like  of  which  has 
never  been  executed  before  in  any  country.  It 
is  a  map  of  Greece  during  the  Middle  Ages,  with 
the  names  of  all  the  villages,  places,  mountains, 
rivers,  etc.,  as  they  were  found  by  the  extensive 
researches  in  history,  in  chronicles,  in  archives, 
in  documents,  and  in  papers  that  I  have  men- 
tioned. 

One  volume  belonging  to  Dr.  Stephanos* 
great  work  of  studying  the  anthropology  of  his 
country  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner  and  more 
thoroughly  than  was  ever  done  anywhere  before, 
gives  the  provincialisms,  the  dialects,  and  pho- 
nological characters  of  all  the  words  for  things, 
as  already  mentioned,  relating   to  agricultural, 


284      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

pastoral,  and  domestic  life,  the  terms  of  natural 
history  in  the  people's  language,  for  instance,  of 
the  fauna  and  flora  of  Greece  in  all  the  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  also  the  description  of 
ceremonies,  especially  of  weddings,  in  their  va- 
riety and  peculiarity  to  locality. 

The  following  copy,  which  I  was  allowed  to 
make,  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  part  of  the 
work ;  it  will  also  illustrate  some  of  the  wonder- 
ful poetical  beauties  of  the  Greek  dialects  and 
the  richness  of  the  language : 

"* //)«?,  rainbow. 

do^dpt^  arc/i,  Syra,  Kymi  (Euboea),  Cephalonia, 
Chimarra  (Epirus),  Eurytania,  etc. 

d6^a,  glory  (only  an  abbreviation  of  a  word,  not  ex- 
actly meaning  glory),  Mykonos,  Andros,  Kythnos, 
Karystos,  Levadia,  Anachona  (Boeotia),  Doride, 
Redestos  (Thrace). 

Otodo^apo^  arch  of  God^  Nauplia,  Lamia. 

T^9  Xpf]a<s  TO  da^dpt,  the  arch  of  the  old  woman,  Leu- 
cade  (Santa  Maura). 

do^dpt  T7j^  xaXoypiqa^,  arch  of  the  nun,  Ithaca. 

K£pa^6.>y}j  ij,  belt  of  our  lady,  Naxia. 


xspa^oo,  Paros,  Kythnos. 
xtpar^oo,  Siphnos. 


The  mean- 
ing of  these 


xepa^ouka,  Sikinos.  r  j  j. 

rr,.  >,.,        *  'words  cannot 

vepavr^obXa,  Thera,  Milos,  Amorgos       u    4-        a 

(dvepal^ouXa  ?).  J 

'Ay{a  "EXivTj,   Chios,    Mitylini   (perhaps   first  'Aytag 
''EXivrj'i  Z(ov7)y  belt  of  St.  Helen). 


EPILOGUE.  285 


Constructions 
of  w  h  i  c  h  no 
translation  can 
be  given. 


KepaffeXivTjj  Kos. 

xspaffoXivT^y  Lemnos. 

xepaffoXi^  Ikaria. 

xoupaXy)<Td,  Libision  (Asia  Minor). 

IIavaYia<s  to  ^cuvdptj  belt  of  the  Blessed  Virgin^  Leu- 
kadia. 

xaXoYp-qa<s  to  ^lovdpt^  belt  of  the  nufi,  Sparta,  Messina, 
Argolide. 

xaX6yp-qa<s^  Elide. 

xaXoypi^j  Gortynia. 

'^Ayia  '^(ovrj^  the  holy  belt,  Syra. 

Kaiidpa,  Megata,  Keos,  Andros,  Kypros. 

Add  I  xai  xpaffc,  oil  and  wine  (because  the  prophecy 
is :  If  the  rainbow  has  much  of  the  green  color  there 
will  be  a  rich  harvest  of  olives,  and  if  there  is  much 
red  there  will  be  a  good  wine  year),  Monemuasia. 

'Avefiod6;(u?,  Mykonos,  Tinos. 

MapooXi  (xa/jL/j.apodXi2),  Magne. 

xanipdvi,  Sphakia  (Crete). 

Dr.  Stephanos  is  preparing  a  bibliography  for 
his  own  use  and  also  to  aid  every  student  of  the 
subject,  giving  the  titles  of  all  books,  pamphlets, 
articles  in  periodicals,  and  manuscripts  which 
treat  of  the  anthropology  of  Greece  or  may 
serve  for  its  study. 

The  books,  pamphlets,  prints  of  all  kinds,  and 
manuscripts  which  form  the  library  of  the  Mu- 
seum of  Anthropology  of  the  University  of  Ath- 
ens, it  goes  without  saying,  make  the  most  com- 
plete collection  of  its  kind.     The  nucleus  of  this 


286      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

library  was  the  gift  of  the  celebrated  man  of  sci- 
ence, Alexander  Paspatis,  and  his  widow  has 
given  a  considerable  sum  for  the  completion  of 
this  library. 

If  we  take  a  glance  over  the  whole,  the  great 
collection  and  the  great  work  connected  with  it 
which  present  themselves  to  the  scholar,  we  may 
well  envy  the  University  of  Athens,  and  Greece 
in  general,  which  are  so  fortunate  as  to  possess 
them.  Here  is  a  rich  material  for  the  study  of 
anthropology,  and  a  master  is  here  to  make  use 
of  it  as  nobody  ever  before  has  been  able  to  do. 
It  is  especially  noteworthy  that  one  single  man  is 
working  on  a  scale  of  such  immense  proportions. 

The  Greeks  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
European  governments  by  their  revival  of 
the  Olympian  games  in  1896.  The  eyes  of  the 
world  were  directed  toward  the  Greeks,  and  it 
appeared  very  probable  that  many  of  the  artifi- 
cially kept  up  prejudices  against  them  would 
vanish.  This,  however,  as  we  can  understand 
after  having  read  history,  did  not  harmonize 
with  the  politics  of  the  English,  the  Russian,  and 
the  German  governments.  With  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Cretan  difficulties  the  press  of  Eu- 
rope, foremost  that  of  Germany,  was  directed  to 


EPILOGUE.  287 

influence  public  opinion  against  the  Greeks.  It 
is  painful  to  say  there  was  nothing  too  base, 
nothing  too  absurd  in  calumniation,  but  the  pub- 
lic accepted  it.  The  journals  refused  everything 
that  was  offered  to  correct  misrepresentations. 
Most  remarkable  was  the  conduct  of  the  German 
press  of  New  York ;  here  the  German  Wahrheits- 
liebe  was  suspended,  and  Freiheitsliebe  was  not 
accorded  to  the  poor  Cretans  suffering  under 
cruel  Turkish  yoke.  The  pleasure  at  the  de- 
feat of  the  Greek  army  was  great;  no  Ger- 
man seemed  to  remember  anything  about  the 
history  of  the  battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstaedt, 
and  all  that  preceded  and  all  that  followed.  Let 
us  hope  that  the  Greeks  may  learn  from  history 
how  the  soldiers  of  1806 — that  is,  the  soldiers 
from  Jena  and  Auerstaedt — became  the  soldiers 
of  18 1 3,  the  soldiers  of  Leipsic. 

In  the  Historical  and  Ethnological  Museum  of 
Athens  there  is  a  glass  case,  surrounded  by 
Turkish  flags.  In  this  case  there  are,  as  the 
following  inscription  tells : 

66ibt<s  xai  OpaoafiaTa  66idiov  xai  6oXi8£<;  ix  tvjv  pi<pBtiau>v 
ix  rou  xoXnoo  rwv  Xavicav  izapa  too  r/va/xivou  arokoo  twv  i$ 
MeydXwv  Auvdfiswv  xard  t(ou  iv  IJpo^TJTrj  ^HXia  tod' Axpiovqpioo 
iffrparoTzedeufiivcov  700  XpiffTiavibv  Kprfzwv  rijv  g-qv  0e(fpoua' 
ptou,  1897,  8)pa  4^  p.fi. 


288     CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

(Shells  and  fragments  of  shells  and  balls 
which  have  been  thrown  from  the  Gulf  of  Canea 
by  the  united  fleet  of  the  six  great  powers  into 
Prophiti  Ilia  of  Acrotisi  against  the  700  Chris- 
tian Cretans  encamped  there  on  the  9th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1897,  at  4:30  P.M.) 

These  projectiles  tell  of  the  greatest  shame, 
not  only  of  our  century,  but  of  the  history  of 
mankind. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  while  in  Athens  to  see 
Professor  Hatzidakis,  whom  I  have  quoted  in  the 
first  chapter  of  this  book.  He  is  a  Cretan. 
When  the  revolution  broke  out,  he  left  his  place 
at  the  university  and  fought  for  his  country  with 
the  other  insurgents.  He  told  me :  "In  Crete 
mourning,  poverty,  and  famine  reign.  There 
is  no  money.  People  are  sadly  in  need  of  cloth- 
ing, and  they  have  no  bread."  Hatzidakis  was 
with  his  people.  One  day  they  baked  bread. 
This  became  known,  and  children  in  masses 
came  asking  for  a  piece  of  bread.  There  was 
none  with  a  whole  garment. 

Early  in  September  last  I  left  the  Piraeus  to 
return  home  to  America.  It  was  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  when  we  were  passing  the  isle  of 
Crete.  We  saw  the  men-of-war  of  the  six  pow- 
ers ;   they  had  illuminated ;  on  board  there  were 


EPILOGUE.  289 

music  and  dancing  and  fireworks.  The  brave 
men  who  had  fired  from  a  safe  distance  upon  the 
Cretan  Christians  were  celebrating  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  Sultan's  ascension  to  the  throne. 

While  in  Athens  Mr.  Bikelas  invited  me,  to- 
gether with  my  little  daughter,  to  dinner.  He 
listened  with  great  interest  to  all  I  had  to  say 
about  Hellenism  in  America.  "How  unfortu- 
nate," he  said,  "that  America  is  so  far  from  us." 

In  the  house  of  a  lady  of  distinction,  where  I 
had  been  honored  with  an  invitation,  I  met  some 
refugees  from  Thessaly — ladies  and  gentlemen. 
We  spoke  of  America,  and  each  and  every  one 
expressed  himself  in  the  very  words  of  Mr.  Bi- 
kelas. 

When  you  come  to   Athens,   the   doors,    the 

arms,  the  hearts  of  the  people  are  wide  open  to 

you,  because  you  are  an  American. 
19 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


The  author  begs  to  express  his  sincerest  gratitude  for  being 
permitted  to  publish  the  list  of  subscribers,  which  includes  the 
names  of  many  reverend  and  illustrious  men.  The  object  of 
the  publication  was  expressed  in  the  circular,  namely,  to  iden- 
tify and  draw  nearer  together  the  Philhellenes  of  America.  It 
may  serve  useful  ends  to  have  this  list  as  complete  as  possible, 
and  therefore  all  Philhellenes  are  asked  to  send  iii  their  names 
for  publication  in  a  later  edition  of  the  book. 

No,  of  copies. 

3  Miss  Fanny  S.  Adam,  13  E.  40th  St.,  New  York. 

1  Rev.  M.  W.  Adams,  Dean  Atlanta  University,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

2  Mr.  A.  M.  Agelasto,  Norfolk,  Va. 

5  Hon.  Eben  Alexander,  former  United  States  Minister  to 
Greece,  Professor  of  Greek,  North  Carolina  University, 
Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 

I  Mr.  E.  Alexander,  41  Fulton  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

I  Dr.  Rudolf  Allert,  502  E.  58th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  B.  G.  Amend,  205  Third  Ave.,  New  York. 

1  Mr.  C.  A.  L.  Amend,  205  Third  Ave.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  Robert  F.  Amend,  205  Third  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Louis  F.  Anderson,  Professor  of  Greek,  Whitman  College, 
Walla  Walla,  Wash. 

I  S.  J.  Ansley,  Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin,  Howard  Col- 
lege, East  Lake,  Ala. 

I  Rev.  Archimandrit  Chrysanthos  Antoniadis,  Ph.D., 
Athens,  Greece. 

I  Mr.  B.  Antoniou,  Athens,  Greece. 

I  John  Argyriadis,  Professor  of  Philology,  Theological  Sem- 
inary, Athens,  Greece. 

I  Mrs,  F.  Bagoe,  423  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York. 


292      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

No.  of  copies. 

I  Mrs.  Xenophon  Baltazzi,  16  E.  40th  St.,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  T.  S.  Baltazzi,  Schulenburg,  Texas. 
I  Hon.  S.  J.  Barrows,  House  of  Representatives,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 
I  Mr.  S.  Bazanos,  558  Broad  St.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
I  Lukas  S.  Bellos,  M.D.,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Mr.  Peter  M.  Biegen,  558  Mott  Ave.,  New  York. 

1  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Biegen,  1035  E.  156th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  D.  Bikelas,  Athens,  Greece. 

2  Mr.   Francis  Blake,  Keewaydin,  Weston,   Mass.,  Auburn- 
dale  P.  O. 
I  Mr.  James  A.  Blanchard,  Tribune  Building,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  Andrew  Blaurock,  604  E.  17th  St.,  New  York. 
10  Hon.  D.  N.  Botassi,  Consul  General  of  Greece,  New  York. 

1  Mr.  John  Botassi,  Athens,  Greece. 

2  Mr.  John  L.  Brower,  156  and  158  Broadway,  New  York. 

I  Prof.  George  S.  Brown,  Antioch  College,  Yellow  Springs, 

Ohio. 
I  Dillon  Brown,  M.D.,  40  E.  57th  St.,  New  York. 
I  Mrs.  Louise  Buchtel,  153  W.  23d  St.,  New  York. 
I  Rev.  Henry  A.  Buttz,  Dean  Theological  Seminary,  Madi- 
son, N.  J. 
I  Arch.  M.  Campbell,    M.D.,   36  First  Ave.,   Mt.   Vernon, 

N.  Y. 
I  Mr.  Demetrius  Carra,  33  S.  William  St.,  New  York. 
I  Thomas  Carter,  Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin,  Centenary 

College,  Jackson,  La. 
I  Joseph  Collins,    M.D.,    Professor  Post-Graduate  Medical 

School,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  F.  O.  Collins,  131  Third  Ave.,  New  York. 
I  Miss  Phroso  Colocotronis,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Cooper  Union,  New  York. 
I  Rev.  N.  E.  Cornetet,  Professor  of  Latin  and  Greek,  Avalon 

College,  Trenton,  Mo. 
I  Most  Rev.  M.  A.  Corrigan,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 
I  C.  Everett  Conant,  Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin,  Lincoln 

University,  Lincoln,  111. 
I  Prof.  J.  M.  Cox,   Philander  Smith  College,    Little  Rock, 

Ark. 


LIST   OF   SUBSCRIBERS.  293 

No.  of  copies. 

I  J.  K.  Crook,  M.D.,  36  E.  29th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Andrew  F.  Currier,  M.D.,  120  E.  34th  St.,  New  York. 

I  M.  G.  Dadirrian,  M.D.,  73  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Dr.  J.  E.  David,  70  Liberty  St.,  Asheville,  N.  C. 

I  Mr.  J.  W.  Davis,   Public  School  81,    Bedford  Park,    New 
York. 

I  Mr.  M.  Diepenbrock,  50  E.  58th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Angelo  Dotorato,  192  E.  125th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Nicholas  Dotorato,  192  E.  125th  St.,  New  York. 

I  T.  J.  Downing,  M.D.,  New  London,  Mo. 

I  Mortimer  Larason  Earle,   Professor  Bryn  Mawr  College, 
Bryn  Mawr,  Pa. 

I  Mr.  Carl  Edelheim,  202  West  Logan  Square,  Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

I  Max  Einhorn,  M.D.,  20  E.  63d  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  F.  Eissner,  18  Bible  House,  New  York. 

I  John  F.  Erdmann,  M.D.,  149  W.  44th  St.,  New  York. 

I  His  Excellency  Athanasios  P.  Eutaxias,  Minister  of  Cultus 
and  Public  Instruction  of  Greece,  Athens,  Greece. 

I  Mr.  B.  Eutichidi,  914  Gravies  St. ,  New  Orleans,  La. 

I  Miss  Mary  Evarts,  231  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Rev.  Wm.  Everett,  44  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  W.  A.  Ewing,  M.D.,  134  W.  58th  St.,  New  York. 
10  Mr.  P.  F.  Fachiri,  145  W.  58th  St.,  New  York. 

I  W.  E.  Farrar.  Professor  of  Latin  and  Greek,  Bethel  Col- 
lege, Russellville,  Ky. 

I  Miss  Louise  M.  Fitzgerald,  314  E.  30th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Sophocles  Fouriesos,  2260  St.  Catherine  St.,  Montreal, 
Canada. 

1  Rev.  James  Eraser,  Professor  of  Greek,  New  Windsor  Col- 

lege, New  Windsor,  Maryland. 

2  Francis  Foerster,  M.D.,  Professor  Post-Graduate  School  of 

Medicine,  New  York. 
I  G.  R.  Fowler,  M.D.,  301  De  Kalb  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
I  W.  Freudenthal,  M.D.,  1003  Madison  Ave.,  New  York. 
I  J.  Henry  Fruitnight,  M.D.,  161  W.  57th  St.,  New  York. 

1  Mr.  C.  S.  Galanopoulo,  2-]}4.  Madison  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  A.  S.  Galatti,  Stegul  Hotel.  Temple,  Texas. 
2  Mr.  P.  J.  Galatti,  15  Old  Slip.  New  York. 


294      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

No.  of  copies. 

I  Deaconess  Gardner,  Grace  Memorial  Home,  94  Fourth 
Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Geis,  136th  St.,  New  York. 

I  A.  G.  Gerster,  M.D.,  Professor  New  York  Polyklinik, 
New  York. 

I  Mr.  E.  W.  Gilles,  120  E.  53d  St.,  New  York. 

I  J.  W.  Gleitsmann,  M.D.,  Professor  Polyklinik,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  G.  Georgopoulos,  33  S.  William  St.,  New  York. 

I  Rev.  A.  E.  Gobble,  President  Central  Pennsylvania  Col- 
lege, New  Berlin,  Union  Co.,  Pa. 

I  Miss  Caroline  A.  Godfroy,  366  Jefferson  Ave.,  Detroit, 
Mich. 

I  Dr.  H.  Goetter,  338  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  C.  M.  Gould,  M.D.,  West  Superior,  Wis. 

5  Dr.  G.,  New  York. 

1  Miss  Elisabeth  Hatten,  Professor  Union  Christian  College, 

Merom,  Sullivan  Co.,  Ind. 

2  Rev.    F.    Heiermann,    S.J.,    Professor    Canisius    College, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
I  Messrs.  Hunt  &  Gregorius,  259  First  Ave.,  New  York. 
I  Rev.  W.  R.  Huntington,  Rector  Grace  Church,  New  York. 
I  G.    N.     Hatzidakis,    Professor   of    Philology,    University 

Athens,  Greece. 
I  C.  Imperatori,  M.D.,  28  Oliver  St.,  New  York. 
I  A.  V.  Williams  Jackson,   Professor  Columbia  University, 

New  York. 
5  A.   Jacob!,    M.D.,    Professor    Columbia   University,    New 

York. 

1  George  W.  Jacoby,  M.D.,  663  Madison  Ave.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  D.  Jannopoulo,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I  Mr.  George  W.  Jarchow,  445  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  S.  S.  Jones,  M.D.,  712  Madison  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.    Panagiotis   D.    Kalogeropoulos,     Conservator  of  the 

Library  of  the  Parliament,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Rev.  Dr.  Kalapothakis,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Mr.  Petros   Kannelidis,    Editor   of    the    Athenian     Daily 

Kairoi,  Athens. 
I  Mr.   John   Kasimatis,    39  Odos  Themistokleous,    Athens, 

Greece. 


LIST   OF   SUBSCRIBERS.  295 

No.  of  copies. 

I  P.  Kastriotis,  Ph.D.,  Ephoros  Archaiotiton,  Athens, 
Greece. 

I  Mr.  Starros  Kazis,  W.  Blackstone  St. ,  opposite  Old  Boston 
and  Maine  Depot,  Boston. 

I  Alexander  Kerr,  Professor  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madi- 
son, Wis. 

1  Kettembeil,  M.D.,  662  E.    146th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Ed.  L.  Keyes,  M.D.,  109  E.  34th  St.,  New  York. 

I  John  B.  Kieffer,  Professor  Franklin  and  Marshall  College, 

Lancaster,  Pa. 
I  Mrs.  Marie  Kleman,  444  Central  Park  West,  New  York. 
I  Rev.  D.  Kosionis,  Greek  Orthodox  Church,  Chicago,  111. 

1  Dr.  Constantin  Kourouniotis,  Ephoros  of  the  Archaeological 

Society  of  Athens,  Chios. 

2  Mr.  L.  C.  Kuchukoff,  41  E.  69th  St.,  New  York. 

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I  Mr.    Nicholas   Laskaropoulos,  960   Lexington   Ave.,  New 
York. 

1  Charles  A.  Leale,  M.D.,  604  Madison  Ave.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  John  Lefferts,  Jr.,  Lawyer,  186  Remsen  St.,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y. 

I  Mr.  G.  Lekas,  17  Roosevelt  St.,  New  York. 

I  Dr.  Basilios  Leonardos,  Ephoros  of  the  Museum  of  Inscrip- 
tions, Athens,  Greece. 

I  Mr.  Michael  Likopantis,  Athens,  Greece. 

1  Miss  F.  Margaret  Linton,  414  E.  14th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  Gregory  G.  Livierato,  91-93  Wall  St.,  New  York. 

I  Rudolf  Loreck,  Dr.   Juris.,    Lawyer,  253  Broadway.  New 

York. 
I  Mr.  Angelo  Lucato.  301  Columbus  Ave. ,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  J.  E.  McAfee,  Parkville,  Mo. 

1  N.  G.  McMaster,"  M.D.,  322  E.  15th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  John  McClure,  259  W.  52d  St.,  New  York. 

I  Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  McFaul,  Bishop  of  Trenton,  N.  J. 
I  John  McNaugher,  Professor  Theological  Seminary,  Alle- 
ghany, Pa. 


296      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

No.  of  copies. 

I  Rev.  Brother  Maurice,  President  Rock  Hill  College,  Elli- 

cott  City,  Md. 
I  Mr.  John  C.  Maximus,  Manhattan  Club,  cor.  34th  St.  and 

Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 

1  Mr.  C.  Fo  Mehltretter,  239  E.  87th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  C.  Menelas,  Mobile,  Ala. 

I  Mr.  George  Merck,  8th  St.,  University  Place,  New  York. 

I  E.  J.  Messemer,  M.D.,  144  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Max  Meyer,  Lawyer,  120  Broadway,  New  York. 

I  Dr.  Franz  Meyer,  Bound  Brook,  N.  J. 

I  Willy  Meyer,    M.D.,    Professor  Post-Graduate  School  of 

Medicine,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  F.  G.  Miliadis,  Augusta,  Ga. 
I  Mr.  Miltiades  A.  Mitaranga,  Waco,  Texas. 

1  Mrs.  Bertha  Morat,  321  E.  84th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Rev.  F.  E.  Murphy,  S.J.,  President  College  of  St.  Francis 

Xavier,  New  York. 

I  Right  Rev.  William  F.  Nichols,  Bishop  of  California. 

I  C.  Nicolai,  M.D.,  81  W.  119th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Nicholas  Nikias,  960  Lexington  Ave. ,  New  York. 

I  Edward  North,  Professor  Hamilton  College,  Clinton, 
N.  Y. 

I  Northwestern  University  Library,  Watertown,  Wis. 

I  Harry  S.  Oppenheiraer,  M.D.,  49  E.  23d  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mrs.  William  Orlick,  51  E.  29th  St.,  New  York. 

I  S.  Stanhope  Orris,  Professor  of  Greek,  Princeton  Univer- 
sity, Princeton,  N.  J. 

I  F.  A.  Packard,  M.D.,  Kearney,  Neb. 

3  Mr.  John  C.  Palamaris,  117  S.  Robey  St,  Chicago,  111. 

I  Th.  Papadimitrakopoulos,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of   Philology, 

University  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Mr.  Gregory  D.  Papadopulos,   828  Palace  St.,   Montreal, 

Canada. 
3  Rev.  Archimandrit  Agathodoros  Papageorgopoulos,  Rector 

Greek  Church,  New  York. 
I  Isaac  A.  Parker.  Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin,  Lombard 

University,  Galesburg,  111. 
I  Mr.  George  Paspatis,  25  Odos  Lykabiton,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Mrs.  James  Patterson,  23  Roosevelt  St.,  New  York. 


LIST   OF   SUBSCRIBERS.  29/ 

No.  of  copies. 

I  Dred  Peacock,  President  Greenboro  Female  College,  Green- 
boro,  N.  C. 

I  Charles  R.   Pepper,    Professor  Central  University,   Rich- 
mond, Ky. 

I  Mile.  Marie  Th^rese  G.  de  la  Perriere,  Principal,  Bridge- 
port, Conn. 

I  Mr.    Nicolas  A.    Petzalis,    35    Bd.  du  Port  Royal,  Paris, 
France. 

I  Dr.  Peterson,  Superintendent  McGill  University  College, 
Montreal,  Canada. 

I  Miss  Caliopi  Petimeza,  Athens,  Greece. 

I  Mr-  Constantine  D.  Phassoularidis,  960  Lexington  Ave.. 
New  York. 

I  Mr.  William  Phlippeau,  Lawyer,  120  Broadway,  New  York. 

I  Miss  Adelais  Phokaeos,  Smyrna,  Turkey. 
10  Messrs.  P.  &  R.,  New  York. 

I  Chester  A.  Place,    President  Southwest  Kansas  College, 
Winfield,  Kans. 

I  Mr.  Louis  Prang,  Art  Publisher,  Roxbury,  Boston,  Mass. 

I  Prof.  Thomas  R.  Price,  263  W.  45th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Berg.  F.  Prince,  Springfield,  O. 

5  Messrs.  Protopsalti  Bros.,  Morley  Ave.,  Nogales,  Ariz. 

I  Mr.  Alcibiades  Psiaki,  91-93  Wall  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mrs.  H.  Purdy,  149  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  Mary  Putnam-Jacobi,  M.D.,  Professor  Woman's  College, 
New  York. 

I  Rev.  James  Quinn,  Mt.  Carmel,  Tuxedo  Park,  N.  Y. 

3  Edward  Quintard,  M.D.,  145  W.  58th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  John  Rachiotis,  130  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

I  Mrs.  M.  Rafter,  150  E.  27th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  Alexander  A.  Ralli,  Waco,  Texas. 

5  Mr.  Anthony  P.  Ralli,  15  Old  Slip,  New  York. 

5  Mr.  Theodore  P.  Ralli,  15  Old  Slip,  New  York. 

I  C.  A.  v.  Ramdohr,  M.D..  45  Irving  Place,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  G.  Ramsperger,  236  E.  23d  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  M.  Rechnitzer,  387  St.  Nicholas  Ave.,  New  York. 

1  Thomas  Richey,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Gen- 

eral Theological  Seminary,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  Ctesar  A.  Roberts,  516  Cooper  Building,  Denver,  Col. 


298      CHRISTIAN   GREECE   AND    LIVING   GREEK. 

No.  of  copies. 

3  Mr.  Herman  Roder,  355  Central  Ave.,  Jersey  City  Heights, 

N.J. 
I  Mr.  J.  M.  Rodocannachi,  Boston,  Mass. 
I  His  Highness  Prince  Demetrios  Rodocanakis,  Syra,  Greece. 
I  D.    B.   St.   John   Roosa,    M.D.,    President  Post-Graduate 

School  of  Medicine,  New  York. 
3  Mr.  William  Sander,  1387  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  Thomas  Schiadaressi,  Augusta,  Ga. 
I  Mr.  Julius   C.  Schlachter,    309  Jefferson   Ave.,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y. 

3  Mr.  F.  Schlesinger,  47  Third  Ave.,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  Theodore  Schmalholz,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

I  Mrs.  Ada  Schmalholz,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

I  Mr.  William  Schmid,  i  W.  104th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  D.  F.  L.  Schoenle,  Bigelow  Place,  Mt.  Auburn,  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio. 

I  George  Schroeder,  M.D.,  Hohenhonnef-a.-Rh.,  Germany. 

I  William  J.  Seelye,  Professor  of  Greek  University  of 
Wooster,  Wooster,  Ohio. 

I  N.  Senn,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Surgery,  Chicago,  111. 

I  BlasiusG.  Skordeli,  Ph.D.,  School  Director, Athens, Greece. 

I  Mr.  H.  E.  Slagenhaup,  Taney  town,  Md. 

I  Mr.  Henry  M.  F.  Smith,  Rockland,  Me. 

I  A.  H.  Smith,  M.D.,  Professor  Post-Graduate  School  of 
Medicine,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  A.  del  Solar,  455  W.  226.  St.,  New  York. 

I  Rev.  Edward  P.  Southwell,  O.C.C.  Prior,  Carmel  Priory, 
334  E.  29th  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  G.  Spiridis,  i  Odos  Xanthou,  Athens,  Greece. 

I  B.  T.  Spencer.  Professor  Kentucky  Wesleyan  College. 
Winchester,  Ky. 

4  Mr.  Charles  E.  Sprague.   President  Union  Dime  Savings 

Bank,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  Alexander  Starrides,  130  Tremont  St..  Boston,  Mass. 
I  Mr.  Henry  T.  W.  Steinberg,  434  E.  nth  St..  New  York. 
3  Clon  Stephanos,  M.D.,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Franklin   B.    Stephenson,    M.D.,    Surgeon   United  States 

Navy,  Roxbury,  Boston,  Mass. 
I  Miss  J.  D.  Stewart,  Iowa  City,  Iowa. 


LIST    OF    SUBSCRIBERS.  299 

No.  of  copies. 

I  Rev.  E.  R.  Stone,  O.C.C.,  Carmel  Priory,  New  York. 

I  Joseph    Edward    Stubbs,    President    State    University  of 

Nevada,  Reno,  Nevada. 
I  William  F.  Swahlen,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Greek,  De  Pauw 

University,  Greencastle,  Ind. 

1  Mrs.  E.  B.  Thornton,  219  Second  Ave.,  New  York. 

5  Hon.  Demosthenes  T.  Timagenis,  Consul  of  Greece  in 
Boston,  Mass. 

2  Dr.  Rudolf  Tombo,  2  Ridge  PL.  New  York. 

I  M.  Toeplitz,  M.D.,  123  E.  62d  St.,  New  York. 

I  Mr.    Nic.  S.  Trakas,  620  Broad  St.,  Augusta,  Ga. 

1  Mr.  Stephen  Vaitses,  Melrose  Highlands.  Mass. 

2  Messrs.  George  F.  Vetter's  Sons,  35  W.  23d  St.,  New  York. 

1  Mr.    A.    L.    K.    Volkmann,    131    Davis    Ave.,    Brookline, 

Mass. 

2  Mr.  Edw.  H.  Warker,  Sheriff's  Office,  New  York. 

1  Mrs.  Meta  Weber,  25  West  46th  St.,  New  York. 

2  Mr.  Joseph  F.  Webber,  65  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 

I  J.  Shelly  Weinberger,  LL.D.,  Dean,  and  Professor  of  the 
Greek  Language  and  Literature  in  Ursinus  College,  Col- 
legeville.  Pa. 

I  Mrs.  Ida  V.  Whitcomb,  1425  Holmes  St.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

I  Rev.  N.  White,  D.D.,  Professor  Lombard  University, 
Galesburg,  111. 

I  Crosby  C.  Whitman,  M.D.,  166  W.  55th  St.,  New  York. 

I  B.  L.  Wiggins,  Vice-Chancellor  University  of  the  South, 
Sewanee,  Tenn. 

I  Lightner  Whitmer,  Ph.D.,  Professor  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia,  Ma. 

I  Reynold  Webb  Wilcox,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  Post- 
Graduate  School  of  Medicine,  New  York. 

I  Mr.  W.  O.  Wiley,  53  E.  loth  St.,  New  York. 

I  W.  P.  Wilkin,  M.D.,  311  W.  46th  St..  New  York. 

I  Rev.  Placidus  Wingerter,  O.S.B.,  Professor  St.  John's 
University,  Collegeville,  Minn. 

I  George  Edward  Woodberry,  Professor  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, New  York. 

I  Dr.  B.  D.  Woodward,  of  the  Department  of  Romance  Lan- 
guages, Columbia  University,  New  York. 


300      CHRISTIAN    GREECE   AND    LIVING    GREEK. 

No.  of  copies. 

1  L.  C.  Woolery,  Professor  West  Virginia  University,  Mor- 

gantown,  W.  Va. 

2  Messrs.  Wray  &  Pilsbury,   Lawyers,   237  Broadway,   New 

York. 
I  Mr.  Leonidas  Zacharakos,  34  Madison  St.,  New  York. 
I  Th.  Zaimis,  M.D.,  Patras,  Greece. 
I  Mr.  Francis  J.  Zitz,  1272  Broadway,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  William  Zobel,  217  Mercer  St.,  New  York. 
I  Mr.  Alexandros  F.  Zographas,  148  E.  30th  St.,  New  York. 
I  Denison  University  Library  (R.   S.  Colwell,   Chairman), 

Granville,  Ohio. 
I  Messrs.  Notara  Bros. ,  1215  Broadway,  New  York. 
I  Sherman  Kirk,  Professor  of  Greek,   1084,    25th  St.,    Des 

Moines,  Iowa. 
I  Mr.  Demosthenes  D.  Desminis,  Athens,  Greece. 
I  Sidney  G.    Ashmore,   Professor  of  Latin,  Union  College, 

Schenectady,  N.  Y. 


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